Waikato Business News October/November 2022

WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS, OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2022 3
Sweet Pea tops CBD business awards
having him join the business
full-time. But we never looked
back. It was the best move
that we actually made. He was
working full time on it after
hours way before that helping
load products to the website
at night.”
The new space in Princes
Street was just meant to be a
showroom, but quickly morphed
into a retail store.
“We had a little showroom
open for a few hours a week
for people who wanted to look
at the products. But we really
underestimated the power of
in-store retail shopping and
how much people wanted to
come in.”
They were only in the shop
for two years before they had
outgrown the space and need
to explore other options once
more.
Their amenable landlords
Steve and Rachel Morth were
happy for them to take down
a wall into the shop next
door and they doubled their
space without having to move
premises.
By 2020 and a dip in sales
during the first Covid lockdown,
Kirsty says it didn’t
take long for business to pick
up again.
Like many businesses relying
on imported stock and
dealing with supply chain
issues, they added more storage
to make room for larger
orders.
“We had to start sitting
on more stock and we added
some storage that Steve had
available at the rear of the
building. Then we added a
shipping container and that
wasn't enough, so we added
a second shipping container.”
By the time they were coming
to the end of the second
tenancy term, Kirsty knew
they needed to find somewhere
else.
In August 2021, Sweet Pea
moved to larger premises at
70 Rostrevor Street.
From small beginnings,
there is now 18 staff on the
payroll including her and
Chris, and she’s been grateful
for the opportunity to provide
jobs for locals.
“A couple of the people
we had employed in the early
days were customers. We haven't
often had to advertise
the staff, it’s mostly word of
mouth.”
This year, they had to
replace three full-timers and
Kirsty says, it’s the first time
they have had to advertise.
“When you talk to other
business owners is staffing
is always your biggest nightmare.
But we've been pretty
fortunate over the years,
we've had some really incredible
people work for us and
some have been with us for
quite a long time.”
Not one to rest on her
party supply laurels, Kirsty
has branched out into other
online businesses - adding
Cake and Kitchen – a one-stop
shop for cake decorating and
baking needs, and Jigstore
selling premium, arty jigsaw
puzzles - to her repertoire.
The Cake and Kitchen was
an obvious business move,
but Kirsty says Jigstore came
about as a result of using jigsaws
to unwind and spend
quality time with her boys.
“It’s been a hard couple of
years for many people with
Covid and I found I needed
a stress release. So instead
of going home and looking
at my phone or continuing to
work all hours of the night all
the time, I needed something
else.”
Ever the entrepreneur she
realised there was a gap in the
market for quality jigsaws and
Jigstore was born.
“We've got the capacity for
it now that we have a really
large retail store and a large
warehouse.”
She’s also proud to support
The Cake Detective, a nonprofit
that provides extraordinary
birthday cakes to vulnerable
tamariki, another perfect
fit for Sweet Pea.
“Right from day one, we
supported Laura with products.
Now she runs Cake
Detective out of our classroom
and the cakes get decorated
here. We know there's
plenty of people who have a
much harder life than what
we do and we believe in paying
it forward.”
Hamilton Central Business
Association general manager
Vanessa Williams says
Sweet Pea was a first-time
entrant this year and they
were deserving winners of the
shopping category.
“Sweet Pea Parties is a
real asset the central city and
holds the title of the largest
party supplies store in New
Zealand. They have really put
in the time and effort to grow
their business, from starting
out as a home-based business,
to moving into town
and recently expanding into a
larger premises. They have a
unique offering in the city and
from the moment you walk
through the doors you will
be captivated by the beautiful
ambience of the store and
delighted at the array of products
available. It feels like a
party waiting to happen.”
Bettle and D3 partnership taking media
performance to the next level
Hamilton-based Bettle &
Associates (B&A) and Aucklandbased
D3 have inked a partnership
deal to take performance media to
a new level in the Waikato region.
The combination of B&A’s
strength in brand and
marketing and D3’s
media strategy know-how will
offer the Waikato a broader
scope of media services, B&A
partner Will Peart says.
“As the media landscape
continues to change,
data-driven decision making
becomes more and more critical
in high-performance accountable
media investments, so
we’ve explored a number of
models to lead to the best media
outcomes for our clients.
“While we have already been
an accredited media agency for
most of our existence, this process
has resulted in our decision
to evolve this into a partnership
with D3. They’re 16 specialists
at the top of the game, led by
people who think like we do.”
Hamilton’s leading brand
and marketing agency, B&A
partners with clients like DeLaval,
Fonterra, Farm Source,
Challenge Fuel, CAL>Isuzu,
Soudal Gorilla, Mt Ruapehu
and Beaurepaires.
Whilst D3 is one of the
country’s leading independent
media agencies, working with
nib, Metlifecare, Ecoya, Milford,
Peugeot/Citroën, The
Co-operative Bank and UP
Education.
“We’re excited about the
partnership with the B&A
team,” D3 partner Richard
Thomspon says.
“We have been building our
offering around a core set of
principles – digital-first, datadriven,
consultative, transparent,
and outcomes focused. So
to have like-minded partners to
continue to scale our approach
is going to be good for both
businesses, our collective media
clients and digitally ambitious
clients across the Waikato.”
Founded in 2001 by George
Bettle, the origins of B&A date
back to the late 90s when network
agency Grey Worldwide
made a move into the regional
centres, including Hamilton.
Grey’s success was not as
expected and George, who was
a senior executive, saw the
potential in the Waikato and
bought out the business.
“George could see there
was a great opportunity in an
underserved market and over
time his level of consultative
services have grown as he partnered
with more and more clients,”
Will says.
Partners Will and Adam
Lurman joined B&A in 2007
and left to pursue careers overseas
before both rejoining the
agency in 2018 within months
of each other.
“Will and I came back into
the agency at the same time
for the same reason, and we’ve
both taken a slice of it for the
same reason,” Lurman says.
“We’re doing smart work, beautiful
work, interesting business
transformation and customer
experience-based work. The
reputation that George has
been building forever – client
work that focuses on outcomes
– is the thing we’re all invested
in continuing to grow. The
added weight of D3 expertise
will help us continue to grow
that reputation amongst our
clients for top-notch, intelligent
media services.”
D3 was founded in 2018
by media planning and digital
services industry leaders Richard
Thompson and Alex
Radford.
Will says, like B&A, at the
forefront of D3’s approach is
building long term relationships
with clients.
“They're very like-minded,
with a similar scale of operation
and a similar level of maturity
of business.
“Our strength, like D3’s, is in
partnering with our clients, getting
really deep into the business
and guiding marketing,
marketing planning, marketing
strategy and building brands.
“This partnership has come
about out of identifying an
opportunity here in the market
and looking for that level
of expertise that can add value
Will Peart (B&A), Adam Lurman (B&A), Alex Radford (D3),
George Bettle (B&A) and Richard Thompson (D3)
to complement the work that
we're doing,” he says.
D3’s mission has always
been to make media more
accountable and more scientific
with a commitment to testing
and learning.
The B&A x D3 hybrid media
team will consist of existing
B&A media talent team of 15
and the full force of the D3 team
of 16, ranging from data consultants
to media planners to performance
analysts.