DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION
TE PAPA ATAWHAI
Whītiki taiao, take action for nature
Conservation Week is an annual Department of Conservation (DOC) initiative focused on encouraging action for nature. In 2025, the programme shifted to engage businesses to activate their communities, instead of individuals, prompting the need for a refreshed look and ways to make it easy for the audience to take part.
Creative thinking
Working with DOC’s Treaty Relationships and Brand teams, the brief was to create a message rich in meaning that aligned with values we all shared, retain DOC’s hero gold and visually connected Conservation Week with the ‘Always Be Naturing’ national campaign launching at the same time – all within a few short weeks!
Through an online creative kōrero, a co-designed concept emerged drawing on the Papatūānuku form within DOC’s tohu, expressing her many dimensions – whenua and wai, fertility, nurturing, natural cycles and her deep connection to whakapapa, tikanga and te ao Māori.
Creative doing
By rotating, reflecting and repeating the Papatūānuku form, the identity expresses a range of themes for a variety of audiences resulting in a flexible design system strongly connected to DOC while remaining distinctive and adaptable. The result is a flexible design system that is strongly connected to DOC while remaining distinctive and adaptable for users to create their own collateral as well as for future campaigns.
Note: the final hero element was changed to a kiwi at the last minute showing exactly how adaptable the system was.
Creative partners
Department of Conservation – Treaty Relationships Group, Brand and Creative Services in-house teams
The te reo Māori heading was developed in collaboration with a colleague and external advisor which is a play on words rather than a direct translation.
The outcome
The campaign exceeded its digital targets across the board with 1.7 million social media impressions, 32% above target, 18,000 clicks across display and Meta ads and 17,000 landing page visits. More than 2,700 people visited the toolkit page with 20% downloading assets to create their own conservation content.
Research and data shows the new Conservation Week delivered broader reach across audiences than in prior years with a 5% increase among older demographics.
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