So warned Waitaki District Council chief executive Alex Parmley as he talked up the mostly positive reaction to the "Waitaki Story", the district’s new brand/identity project, at the council’s November meeting on Tuesday.
Mr Parmley introduced a formal report on the work being done to try to create a Waitaki brand/identity to help the district fulfil its potential.
Mr Parmley said recent efforts by the council to involve local communities had been a good way to incorporate feedback for the further development of the new brand.
The Waitaki Story and a new district brand logo grew out of the 2022 Uplifting Waitaki: Hapaitia te Waitaki Economic Development Strategy to aid business and investment and attract new residents through better promotion of the district.
The concept and initial designs — to be reflected in new district signs and district promotional material — was put to a series of "community conversations" from Palmerston to Omarama.
Mr Parmley said it had been widely appreciated, although it would be hard to satisfy everyone.
"I think when it comes to the identity and brand, there are always detractors.
"When we started the engagement I had some trepidation with the way the community might respond ...
"I was pleased and surprised, somewhat, with the response we got."
The council unanimously endorsed recommendations on Tuesday to start implementing it, using existing budgets to prioritise "the refresh" of district entry and township signs.
At the same time it accepted a recommendation the current council brand should be reviewed to complement the new strategy.
Business attraction and recovery manager Melanie Jones said both the story and the identity branding had largely been "received favourably".
Confusion about the current Waitaki District Council logo with its "colonial" connotation aligning with the new branding had come up.
They had sought to gain input into the initial concepts to develop the new Waitaki and town signs.
"The approach of capturing the story of the district, its people and communities was adopted to ensure the adopted identity and associated branding is authentic, grounded in the community’s views of its identity and place, and therefore most of the community are able to relate to it," Ms Jones reported.
Most sessions were positive, although some loud protest from a group identified as Waitaha by Ms Jones, had arrived at the final session in Oamaru last week and had changed the focus of the feedback session with their protest.
Mayor Gary Kircher, who was not at the meeting, said from what he had heard "there were groups who came to oppose" the story of the district.
Ms Jones said their concern was "their lack of involvement".
Mr Kircher noted they needed to take that up with runaka, who were consulted from the beginning.
