Auckland's Super City celebrated it's fifth birthday today with the Project Auckland lunch held at The Northern Club where guests were invited to reflect on changes and looking forward to what Auckland will look like in five years.
Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED) chief executive Brett O'Riley presented an optimistic vision of Auckland in 2020, as the world's most liveable city, an Asia-Pacific innovation hub, and with double the number of international students coming that Auckland currently has among other positive attributes.
"The refresh of the Economic Development Strategy in 2014 recognised we need to have one unified story for Auckland - a clear and compelling purpose which all globally focused Auckland companies and organisations can use when talking to counterparts across the world," O'Riley said.
NZME's Fran O'Sullivan hosted a panel discussion with some of the leaders of the strategy around why it was important for Auckland to stand out not just on a world stage but from other markets in New Zealand. NZME chief executive Jane Hastings said it was important for Aucklanders to identify with a unique and strong brand going forward.
"I think the Auckland brand can get a bit lost sometimes in the wider New Zealand brand but we have a very strong and unique city and we need to try and make that stand out like other cities around the world do," Hastings said, adding that she was excited to be part of the project that was defining what that Auckland brand was.
