Historically, Census participation from New Zealand’s indigenous Māori population is low, and recent government efforts to engage Māori had not made an impact.

Our strategy was a campaign designed to meet Māori person-to-person, in a way the government couldn’t - connecting with them in their neighbourhoods, on their terms.

This campaign tapped into local pride and used the hype around streetwear culture to get people lining up complete their Census. Featuring a limited-edition run of bespoke merchandise, as well a pop-up store inside a truck that toured under-represented suburbs empowering people to ‘Rep Your Suburb’ by completing the census.

Completing the census means that communities can receive resources based on the level of need - anything from local healthcare, to street lights.

Many New Zealanders do not realise the importance of this National survey, and combined with the mistrust of government among Māori, 2023 was set to be the worst year on record for Māori turnout. This is despite the prioritisation of this group and $1 million NZD spent on incentives for priority groups.

At the eleventh hour, Stats NZ approached the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency to help lift census responses among Māori before June 30. With less than five weeks remaining, the daunting challenge was to achieve 10,000 completed census forms.

We needed to personally empower Māori to engage with the census, for the benefit of their communities - an on-the-ground team to strengthen engagement in a way that the Government couldn’t; with trust and understanding.

Māori are the indigenous people of New Zealand, and like many indigenous groups, they have been disadvantaged by the effects of colonisation and displacement over generations.

Whakapapa is an important idea that lives within the heart of Māori culture. It is how Māori identify themselves – through their connection with family, iwi (tribes), and land. It places value on the interconnectedness between people and place.

The value placed on Whakapapa means that connecting to the land you’re from has always been vital to Māori identity. But, during the 20th century, Māori were displaced from their tribal boundaries to urban centres. This is said to be one of the most rapid movements of any population, and to preserve Māori culture amongst the complexities of modern life, Māori identity had to evolve.

Today, having a strong connection to your suburb is a modern way of connecting to the land. For Māori in urban Auckland, area codes are more than just numbers - they’ve become contemporary symbols of identity and belonging. We see this brought to life through Māori and Pasifika musicians, artists, and graffiti.

The flow-on impacts of colonisation and displacement among our indigenous people mean mistrust of the government is high among Māori. This is why it was essential that this campaign didn’t feel like it was coming from the New Zealand government or Stats NZ – which would be an instant turn-off for this group.

Whānau Ora is a government-funded commissioning agency that works to improve the wellbeing of Māori families and communities with a by Māori, for Māori approach. They work to provide culturally appropriate solutions and services, delivered from within the communities that they serve.

For this campaign, it was important that the messaging “Rep your suburb”, came from the Whānau Ora brand, and not from the New Zealand government. They were targeting Māori who hadn’t completed their census forms by the official census date. This group was more likely to be young, male, distrustful of establishment and living in urban areas.

The challenge was to deliver a government message in a way that felt authentic to the Whānau Ora brand and Māori communities. The message needed to imbue a sense of pride and identity in our urban Māori communities and achieve 10,000 completed Māori census forms within five weeks.

Younger Māori growing up in urban centres often feel a disconnection from their ancestral heritage, despite experiencing a strong pull towards their cultural identity.

Our strategic focus was to forge connection through shared identity, place and mana [spirit].

The Government and Stats NZ had tried to engage with Māori using a traditional lens focussing on a sense of Whakakapa and connection to iwi (tribe). But, given that our target audience, young urban Māori, experience a lack of connection to their ‘traditional’ Māori identity due to urban migration and displacement, this strategy hadn’t connected with them.

Our strategy was to connect with local neighbourhoods, in a hyper-local, culturally relevant way, by using merchandise they love, at the places they belong and with people they that they trust. By using their area codes as symbols of pride, we embraced this modern means of identification, and strengthened their sense of community and belonging.

The Census is essentially a way to represent your suburb - to ensure it is allocated the resources it needs. So we encouraged people to represent their suburb through a super limited-edition range of items branded with different Auckland area codes, that could be obtained only by filling out the Census.

There was a limited number available per suburb, to drive urgency and hype.

Taking an approach that centered on Māori world view, ‘Rep Your Suburb’ channelled identity and forged community connection, bringing local pride right into the heart of our under-represented suburbs.

We were able to connect the idea of representing your suburb through an area code (something people already do in music, street art, and clothing), with the idea of representing your suburb by filling out the census. This was a way to directly show how standing up and being counted ultimately benefits your neighbourhood and community.

The work went live after the mainstream campaign ended and forms were 'officially' meant to have been completed. Meaning our audience was inherently harder to shift.

Despite only giving out 250 pieces of merchandise, Whānau Ora achieved 41,267 completed Māori census forms surpassing its target by an incredible 413%.

As of August 2023, the Government had spent $286 Million on the 2023 Census. This includes everything; from questionnaire design, to fieldwork, staff, incentives and comms, to achieve 4.5 Million completed census forms. Resulting in an average cost of $63.55 per completed form.

The Whānau Ora initiative spend of $328,728 covered all staffing on the ground, merchandise, truck, and all other campaign costs. As a result, 41,267 Māori census forms were completed, an average of $8.43 per form.

From brief to the official census deadline, Whānau Ora had only five weeks to achieve 10,000 completed Māori census forms. This impacted not only what could be achieved, but also what we were able to measure.

Budget breakdown in confidential information.