-
Five years of Maverick milestones
August 4th, 2021
This month Maverick turns 5 years old, and we’re overwhelmingly grateful for all of the things we’ve been able to accomplish to date. The process has been challenging and colourful and endlessly exciting – sometimes, all at once – and we wanted to share our journey with you.
Here are five years of our favourite Maverick milestones, written by Alex.
Brazil, 2014
The foundations of Maverick started in a hostel in Paraty, on Brazil’s Atlantic Coast – and this was the view from my desk! After leaving Tourism New Zealand’s digital team and heading off on an OE, I began collaborating with a number of operators from across NZ on all things digital. While travelling through South America, my then boyfriend (now husband) and created search-optimized digital content, completed SEO work and worked on social media strategies.
Northern Peru, 2014
This is what I like to call ‘work-life balance’ – in between work projects, we’d head off spotting pink dolphins in the Amazon, hiking in the Andes and four-wheel driving the Salar de Uyuni. The combination of working in tourism marketing while travelling through exotic places was inspiring, and got me thinking about what NZ tourism really needed from the agency space.
Te Anau, 2015
Maverick’s first work trip! We returned to NZ late 2014, and I loved our digital tourism projects so much while travelling that I started Maverick Digital immediately on our arrival. I love surfing and named the agency after one of the world’s biggest breaks – Mavericks in California. Dropping in on a wave at Mavericks is a pretty scary move – just as scary as embracing digital for tourism. We headed to Te Anau and Queenstown to chat to operators about the digital marketing challenges they were facing.
Tamaki Maori Village, 2016
In 2016 we visited Rotorua to famil Tamaki Maori Village and spend time with Lady workshopping her vision for the company’s new website. I took our son Arlo with me. He particularly loved the cultural performance! Meeting with staff, spending time with Doug and understanding the wider impact Tamaki had on Rotorua’s people was eye opening and forged my appreciation for the impact cultural tourism has on the community when it’s done well.
Rotorua Duck Tours, 2017
Our client base continued to grow. Soon after my daughter, Heidi was born I headed to Rotorua to catch up with clients (family in tow!) Here we are with Rotorua Duck Tours, next to Lake Tarawera. We’ve worked with Sean, Trevor & team since 2017 and they’re awesome – we love their passion for the guest experience and appetite for leveraging the digital space as much as possible.
Visiting Hobbiton, 2018
Proud as punch exploring Hobbiton with Tim and Kelly – and the start of a really fun and fulfilling client relationship. Our work with Hobbiton is testament that personal connections and customer service is everything. We may be small, but we’re very much capable of achieving results on a really large scale.
Christmas celebrations, 2018
Great Escape, mini golf and kicking our heels up to the wee hours. We had so much to celebrate, and we sent 2018 out in style! Highlight of an epic year.
Tourism Transforming, 2019
There’s nothing I like talking about more than digital best practice, and how doing it well can have a massive impact on an operator’s bottom line. Tony Boot from BTM and Dylan Rushbrook from Tourism Talent joined me for a week of Tourism Transforming workshops throughout NZ. Me living my passion and helping empower tourism through digital = a very happy Alex!
Tourism Bay of Plenty, 2019
Kicking off Tourism Bay of Plenty’s website redevelopment with Tim and our Senior Dev, Mike, in Tauranga City. What an incredible region to collaborate with on this kind of a project. I was inspired, proud and beyond excited at the moment this photo was taken.
Maverick goes bowling, 2019
Now a team of 7, we decided to do team photos that were a little bit quirky, so this year we dressed up in our whites and headed to the bowling club. Possibly the most fun and random photoshoot I’ve ever been a part of. Check out that bunch of good-looking tourism marketing gurus!
Starting and growing Maverick Digital has been hard, and uncomfortable, and challenging; and all the things that start up life is full of (especially with two toddlers in tow). But running this company is also one of the most exciting and fulfilling things in my life to date.
While I love seeing the positive impact we have on our clients’ businesses and organizations, I’m most proud of the hardworking group of Mavericks that I’m lucky enough to call my colleagues. To me, this is success – a smiling, happy, laughing team; full of excitement for the work we do, despite the fact we’re obsessed with driving fiscal results for our clients, which isn’t always easy.
To all of our clients and tourism friends: Thank you. For believing in Maverick, for being brave and embracing digital, and for constantly inspiring me to become a better version of myself over these past 5 years.
This is only just the beginning.
#MAVERICKTOURISM
You`ve got the questions, we`ve got the answers!
Join an incredible line-up of Maverick experts and industry thought leaders, as we dive into the biggest trends and innovations in tourism marketing that you NEED to know.
There`s just a handful of tickets remaining - so grab yours now and we`ll see you at Auckland`s B:HIVE on Tuesday 5 December 🎫
#tourismmarketing #faqs #demystifyingAI #networking #conference
Nov 22
Five cheers for Kelly! 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
An absolute rockstar in creating digital ads, crunching ROI numbers, navigating the stormy seas of Facebook, and baking yummy lolly cake - we`re stoked to celebrate Kelly`s (our very first employee!) five year anniversary at Maverick this week.
A massive mihi and arohanui to our favourite `ninja` Kelly - Maverick wouldn`t be the same without you 🥰
#5years #workaversary #wearemaverick
Sep 15
How do I use ChatGPT? What motivates young tourism professionals? And why is the new generation so `fickle`?...
Our Key Account Manager Ryan smashed it at last week`s YoungTEC Panel in Rotorua - we were so proud to see him take to the stage and share his valuable insights at TEC`s 2023 Conference.
#rotorua #networking #conference #tourism #wearemaverick
Aug 16
Have you heard the news? Our digital performance guru Stu has been promoted to Head of Client Services! 👑🎉
Bringing together our high-quality and industry-leading account management, paid media mahi and content delivery, we`re excited to reach new heights in the client service space - and be treated to even more Dad jokes!
#promotion #congrats #digitalmarketing #wearemaverick
Jul 5
Lets Talk
Ready to connect?
We're a team of tourism and digital experts who hang our hats on doing high impact work that affects your bottom line.
