The project that helped to redefine the brand of Te Wānanga o Aotearoa has been recognised with two national research awards.

Te Wānanga o Aotearoa and its research partner TRA last week won two gold awards for research effectiveness at the 2016 RAEAWARDS.

The biennial RAEAWARDS celebrate the top market research projects in New Zealand.

The awards acknowledged the work undertaken in 2015 to redefine the future brand direction of Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.  As well as collecting the Gold Award in the Community and Social Services category, TRA and Te Wānanga o Aotearoa were also named winners of the Innovation Award.

Tumukahuroa Hone Paul said that the awards are important in recognising the work that happens at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa to achieve tauira success.

“This was the first major piece of work we had carried out to better understand our brand and our position in the tertiary education landscape – it  helped us to see why tauira and stakeholders valued our brand.”

“We also heard what our potential tauira and stakeholders were telling us to change, and we are using these insights to redefine ourselves, first as a modern Wānanga and also as an education brand” says Hone.  

Karin Glucina of TRA said the judges were impressed by the collaborative approach between TRA and TWoA, and the emphasis on understanding and sharing the unique kaupapa of Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.

They also took into account the breadth of audience covered during the project and the scale of change including the visual identity change that the research enabled.

Hone acknowledged TRA for a great partnership. “Karin and her team were magic to work with. They demonstrated strong capability and showed true collaboration, but most of all they respected our kaupapa and who we are as a Wānanga”.