Fruitbowl - Fresh Ideas from Hawke's Bay

Attn! marketing pr is one of 23 local businesses that will support the New Zealand Men’s and Women’s Hockey teams as they strive for gold at next years London Olympics.

Attn! marketing pr director Anna Lorck said being part of a world first – where a community comes together to sponsor a national sports team in its quest for Olympic glory was an exciting initiative.

“We like many other business leaders want to promote Hawke’s Bay to an international audience and this is a unique way of demonstrating how innovative our region is.

"It's time we showed New Zealand and the world how strong collectively our region can be,” Anna said.

This unique sponsorship agreement announced today is the brainchild of Vector Arena co-owner and the man behind the phenomenally successful 'Walking with the Dinosaurs', Bruce Mactaggart.

Businesses supporting include nationwide in-home childcare PORSE, construction firm Gemco, transportable building firm Cottages NZ, Port of Napier and New Zealand’s largest credit union NZCU Baywide.

The list dubbed the “Hawke’s Bay Leaders Circle” also includes Tumu Timbers, Hastings Pak’n Save, Big Save, Lowe Corporation, NZ Entertainment and Events Corporation, Unison, Selini, Ngati Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated, Furnware, Tremains, Colliers, Hastings Health Centre, Farmlands, Mackersey Developments along with Rebecca Turner and Lyn Williams, Rod Drury and Claire Vogtherr and Neil Pulford.

Jenni Giblin of Giblin Group and Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule played a vital role in securing the support of the business leaders in a short period of time.

Mr Mactaggert said the aim of the sponsorship is to give New Zealand hockey the best chance of winning medals at the Olympics while also uniting a community.

"While I personally believed this was a great notion, I obviously wasn’t sure if others would agree with me! But in my view, the potential for global exposure for Hawke's Bay and the opportunity to drive this community forward was too good to miss," says Mactaggart.

"This is not just about hockey – it’s about what is possible when a community comes together, how we can unite and use all our resources, financial and intellectual to support our national team while also galvanising and supporting our own community," Mactaggart says.

Hawke’s Bay will host an induction weekend from 25-27 November as well as team training camps next year. The Black Sticks will also visit schools, businesses and community organisations in the region.

Mayor Yule sees it as a fantastic opportunity to take the Hawke’s Bay ‘brand’ to the world.

“While we couldn’t have commenced this initiative without the fantastic financial support of the initial Hawke’s Bay ‘leaders’; we are going to look for ways to engage the entire Hawke’s Bay community to support the Black Sticks as they prepare in their ‘quest to be the best’ at the London Olympics in 2012”, says Mayor Yule.

“We see this partnership as a unique and innovative way to promote Hawke’s Bay – and the opportunities to live, work, invest and play here - to the world! This region truly is an amazing place with amazing people!’ says Mayor Yule.