Media release

22 June 2016

Waikato civil defence social media strategy in LGNZ award finals

They’ve ranged from drawings on maps of weather “sausages” (areas where bad weather is expected) through to an illustration of “nun” Julie Andrews being hit by a trampoline blown about by heavy winds.

These cartoons have been part of an innovative social media strategy run recently by the Waikato Civil Defence Management Group. The strategy has received national interest.

Now the work has been recognised further with the group’s social media strategy being named as a finalist in the Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) Fulton Hogan EXCELLENCE Award for Community Engagement.

“The strategy was developed by the team’s social media specialist Matthew Pryor to engage communities in civil defence emergency management through social media, using original, educational and informative content,” says group controller Lee Hazlewood.

“The humorous approach developed has had great results in terms of growing our social media audience. It’s great to see his work being recognised with an award nomination.”

Category winners will be announced at a gala dinner during the LGNZ Conference in Dunedin next month.

Our illustration shows an example of one of the group’s social media posts.

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