Carterton Eyes Events Centre Rebrand

Tuesday, 1 April 2025, 9:36 pm
Article: Emily Ireland - Local Democracy Reporter

Carterton councillors will decide on Wednesday whether to rebrand their town’s events centre to the Wairarapa Events Centre.

A name change to “Wairarapa Events Centre, Carterton” was proposed in 2020 but it did not get the green light from councillors.

The proposed rebrand now comes at a time when neighbouring Masterton has planned to build a new town hall, pending the demolition of its earthquake-prone one.

A report for Carterton’s meeting on Wednesday provided three options for councillors to consider: rebrand the Carterton Events Centre to Wairarapa Events Centre; rebrand to incorporate a te reo Māori name and Wairarapa Events Centre; or retain the Carterton Events Centre brand.

Events centre coordinator Erin Banks, who wrote the report, said the Wairarapa brand was “extremely powerful in marketing” and that Wairarapa was a “sought after destination location”.

“Marketing the facility outside Wairarapa would be assisted if it were to be renamed to reflect this, for both audiences and event promoters and organisers,” Banks said.

“We have worked hard to market the centre to both the local community and the wider Wairarapa region and have had great success, however we feel it is time to consider amending the name to enhance our marketing reach to the wider Wellington market and beyond.

“In these difficult times, with councils under increasing financial pressure, it’s also a good opportunity for the councils in the region to work together on a regional approach to what we provide to our communities, investing in the infrastructure we already have, to provide the best we can to our region.”

The council had already secured the domain name ‘Wairarapa Events Centre’ through Google meaning that traffic for those seeking an event centre in the Wairarapa are taken straight to the current cartertonec.co.nz website.

“These domains were purchased in 2020 and our ownership is due to expire in July 2025 unless renewed,” the report said.

Cons to rebranding to the Wairarapa Events Centre included that the Carterton community had a strong sense of ownership and “may feel uncomfortable with a name change”, the report said.

“Those who are financially and emotionally invested into the building may feel the council is not honouring their investment.”

The report said the costs for the design work development and brand guidelines for a rebrand following a name change could be achieved within this financial year’s budgets using in-house skills.

Replacing the signage on the building, uniforms, and other branded items would cost about $5000 and this would be in the 2025-26 financial year if councillors voted in favour of a rebrand.

The events centre has been operating as the Carterton Events Centre since 2011 when it opened to the public.

Banks said it had gone from strength to strength and was now seen as the premier arts, performance and events centre in Wairarapa.

“The events centre is seen as a Wairarapa facility, not just a Carterton resource,” she said.

“In the past year more than 59% of surveyed attendees at public events at the centre came from outside of Carterton, with 10% of those coming from outside of Wairarapa.”

– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air

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