Today the Taupo Council – or their promotional team at DGLT (Destination Great Lake Taupo) – have invited TRM to a one hour ‘workshop’ to decide on a theme – a defining marketing message – for Turangi.  I guess that shows how important Turangi is their priorities.  One hour!.  To decide on a slogan for Auckland took two years and cost $500,000, so for a small town of just under 3,000 residents we are allocated one hour.  Fair enough.

Traditionally and historically Turangi was always known as “The trout fishing Capital of the world”.  The old Taupo logo paid homage and even included a leaping trout.  Then about ten years ago the council appointed a bright new marketing genius who changed the logo and rebranded Turangi “Source of the Lake”?  That sucked.  Turangians were not asked or consulted.  That was it.  The sign was soon replaced.

Since then a new local group has been formed representing Turangi called “Go Tongariro”.  Their logo also features a leaping trout but their awful slogan remains “Source of the Great Lake Taupo”?

So today is a big day for the future prosperity of Turangi – to consider a suitable marketing message to convey the spirit of Turangi.  I suppose we should be delighted to have been invited.  Obviously we think this is a no-brainer.  The main tourist attraction for Turangi was covered in a short video prepared by TRM last year –

The original wonderful world famous marketing message should never have been changed.  Turangi is recognised for trout fishing all over the world, ever since the NZ Government paid an American novelist, Zane Grey, to visit and report on the trout fishing in the 1920’s to promote tourism.  He returned three more times and wrote his famous “Fishing Eldorado” book on the Tongariro fishing.  The growth of Taupo and Turangi as tourist towns were based on trout fishing.  Most of the holiday homes in Turangi are owned by anglers.  So why change it? 

Regular TRM Daily Report readers will be aware that in our own small way we tried to keep the “trout fishing Capital of the world” message alive.  When the Council removed the old signs they mysteriously went missing and then re-appeared at TRM. 

Then late last year GoTongariro approached TRM requesting the sign to refresh it with the new Taupo logo.  Foolishly we allowed them to remove it.  After a few months when they failed to deliver any ‘refreshed’ sign we had to provide our own, in conjunction with RaftingNZ, with an impressive new sign featuring “Welcome to Turangi” and “TROUT FISHING CAPITAL OF THE WORLD”. 

Then we waited for Council’s congratulations?  Instead, the very next day, TRM were fined $300 and ordered to remove the sign etc..  At the time we had no idea of what we had done wrong but they found some small print in the Resource Management Act to justify the fine for replacing an existing sign with a larger one…  Council bullies?

Now, a year later, the retrospective resource consent application is still being negotiated with a very difficult prickly obstructive compliance department who now insist we remove all directional signage. 

You will have noticed we are not advertising TRM at all – merely welcoming tourists to Turangi – but apparently that is not allowed.  When we consider all the other advertising signs around the town erected on road reserves etc. it is clear we are being unfairly targeted by Taupo Council.  SWMBO is so naughty!

Turangi – the little town that should have but hasn’t.  Now you can see why.  Taupo make sure of that.  No wonder the resident population has fallen so far in the last twenty years.  Watch this space…