Puhimoana Ariki Collective selected for National Bowel Screening Campaign

ROTORUA, Friday: The Ministry of Health has appointed Maori & Pacific-owned and led advertising and creative collective Puhimoana Ariki to develop and deliver the National Bowel Screening Programme campaign.

Puhimoana Ariki is a collective of three agencies – Māori agency Wawata Creative (Wellington and Rototrua), Pacific agency Bright Sunday (headquartered in South Auckland) and The Digital Café in Wellington.

There was a competitive RFP process, but no incumbent was named in the PR release.

“We are honoured to co-create and lead the development of this campaign with our communities, health professionals and stakeholders all dedicated to making a difference to reduce the numbers of bowel cancer deaths,” said Puhimoana Ariki strategy & creative lead Stella Muller.

Puhimoana Ariki creative director Inia Maxwell said the campaign is the first for the newly formed collective.

“We’d talked about forming a collective to provide a true Māori, Pacific and local solution,” he said. “The bowel screening campaign was the opportunity we’d been waiting for to come together to achieve better outcomes for our people.”

“Bowel screening participation rates for Māori and Pacific peoples are well below those for non-Māori, non-Pacific populations, and this campaign is all about changing that.”

“It’s humbling that our first campaign will help to save lives and we thank the Ministry of Health and the panel for appointing us to deliver it.”

Amatailevi Stella Muller says the win validates that Māori and Pacific marketing frameworks have currency.

“This is an exciting opportunity for our collective to evidence and demonstrate a creative and campaign development process that truly embodies Māori and Pacific ways of engaging, thinking, working and creating.

“What sets us apart is our ‘deep knowing’ and insights informed by our lived experiences, relationships and connections to our communities – this is our value add.”

Matt McNeil, from The Digital Café, says there’s more work to be done to get it right for priority audiences.

“Through our experience working with Māori and Pacific audiences in Aotearoa the traditional mainstream media buying approach has always been sub-optimal,” he said.

“Forming this collective has enabled us to deliver a programme of ground-up, grassroots, community and social led communications that will better connect with these communities”.

NBSP manager Cathy Whiteside says the panel was impressed with Puhimoana Ariki Collective’s credentials and commitment to communicating with Māori and Pacific audiences, and their strong community networks.

“It’s humbling that our first campaign will help to save lives and we thank the Ministry of Health and the panel for appointing us to deliver it.”

“Bowel screening participation rates for Māori and Pacific peoples are well below those for non-Māori, non-Pacific populations, and this campaign is all about changing that.

“The NBSP campaign, which will launch in June, will promote public awareness about bowel screening, with a focus on increasing participation, particularly for eligible Māori and Pacific people, and disabled people.

“It seeks to complement and enhance the comprehensive work already underway locally and regionally by district health boards, and to tap into the insights and learnings from kaimahi.

“The campaign has strong input from a campaign advisory group that has broad sector representation. There is also ongoing input from a consumer rōpū, clinical advisory group, and communications advisory group.

The NBSP is free for people aged 60 to 74 years. It aims to save lives by finding bowel cancer at an early stage when it can often be successfully treated.

ABOUT
Wawata Creative is a Māori-owned full-service comms agency established in 2014.  Based in Rotorua and Wellington, the agency leads – Inia Maxwell (Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāti Rangiwewehi), Rongopai Stirling-Maxwell (Te Whānau-a-Apanui, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Kauwhata, Ngāi Tahu) and Sam Robinson (Ngāti Raukawa) specialise in Māori engagement and weaving Māori narratives and creative into messaging, that resonates with all audiences.

• wawata.nz

Bright Sunday is a marketing, communications and creative agency based in South Auckland specialising in engaging Pacific and under-served audiences. Founded in 2010, Bright Sunday is owned by Amatailevi (Samoan chief title) Stella Muller (Samatau, Masina) who together with her husband Robert Muller (Nukunuku) lead a team of 10 and work with an extensive network of Pacific, Māori and like-minded creatives, cultural experts and marketing practitioners.

• www.brightsunday.co.nz

The Digital Café is a Wellington-based media agency founded in 2016 by media stalwarts Matt McNeil and Antony Young. The Digital Café is a team of 11 and provides media planning, buying, measurement and management services to public and private sector clients all around Aotearoa.

• www.thedigitalcafe.co.nz