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