When someone says “What’s it worth” to you, you think of clothing, retail, antiques, or even bartering. That’s why Google suggests these things. “What’s it worth” certainly doesn’t make people think of Whangarei, yet the Whangarei District Council has commissioned Big Fish Creative (one of Whangarei's Local Design firms) to do another branding exercise for Council. This time they’ve created the website whatsitworth.co.nz, which has been given a budget of $50k for a full media and creative strategy this year. Big Fish says this budget includes "a small mount attributed to a campaign landing site which does not require SEO." 

The purpose? WhatsItWorth.co.nz “is directly targeted to attract skills” and is aimed at the demographic of 25-40 year olds. Specifically, the target audience is “couples with two children, with skills” who have otherwise been leaving Auckland to go to Bay Of Plenty or Waikato.

So has the website had its desired effect? Since March 2 it has had around 2000 hits, Peter Gleeson WDC’s Economic Development manager said. That sounds great, you might say, however the website is not getting anywhere near the first two pages of internet search results. Why is it not search engine optimised? The website seems to be a collection of a whole lot of other websites including WhangareiNZ.com, TradeMe.co.nz, Realestate.co.nz and infometrics.co.nz, which are some interesting reading.

Gleeson said the website WhatsItWorth.co.nz is Stage 1. By Stage 2, the website should have more of a reciprocal relationship with realtors, using Whangarei’s affordable house prices as leverage to get people to take up jobs here.  So will money be given to a campaign like this every year? “It doesn’t have a definitive time frame. It’s hoped industry sectors will pick it up in time.” This could mean it’s not Council-controlled in future.

Still, even if the investment in the campaign was questionable, it does host some happy statistics for Whangarei. Gleeson shared a recent economic report indicating Whangarei’s economy expanded sharply in 2015, growing by 4.2% over the year to December.  “The big story of 2015 in Whangarei was the resurgence of the housing market. After struggling to gain any traction since the housing market crash of 2008, house prices rose 15% in 2015, with sales climbing almost 50% over the same period.” Also, retail spending and car sales in Whangarei continued to grow, up 5.3% and 11% respectively. Commercial vehicle registrations also climbed 16% in 2015.

What is it worth to you?