Great Scott recognised at 2026 IABC Gold Quill Excellence Awards for ‘Huihui Mai’ campaign

Great Scott, a strategic communications agency headquartered in Christchurch, has won a coveted 2026 IABC Gold Quill Excellence Award for a community engagement campaign that delivered more than double its response target and reached younger people in record numbers.

The International Association of Business Communicators Gold Quill Awards are regarded as the most rigorous international benchmark for communications excellence. Great Scott and CentrePort Wellington Ltd were the only two New Zealand organisations recognised, with CentrePort’s ‘Blending Marine Tradition With Te Ao Māori to Create CentrePort’s New Plaque’ collecting a Merit Award in Creative Design.

Great Scott’s winning campaign, Huihui Mai, was developed for the Whakawhanake Kāinga Committee (Urban Growth Partnership for Greater Christchurch) and its member organisations: Environment Canterbury, Mana whenua, Christchurch City Council, Selwyn District Council, Waimakariri District Council, Te Whatu Ora Waitaha and Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency.

The campaign centred around on interactive, dynamic, digital survey that could be completed online anywhere, supported by in-person engagement. The tools delivered both quantitative and qualitative information on residents’ 2050 vision for Greater Christchurch that is being used to inform planning of housing, transport, green spaces and climate resilience.

James Caygill, Regional Director of the NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi, says consultation fatigue was widespread when Huihui Mai commenced in 2023: “It’s fair to say our community has been through many consultations since 2011. Doing the same old thing all over again just wasn’t going to cut through anymore. We wanted a new and exciting approach that would not only ask the community what they wanted for the future but would inspire new people to get excited and feel part of the decision making. That’s what Great Scott helped deliver.”

Great Scott Managing Director Donovan Ryan says the challenge was to get 3,000 Greater Christchurch residents to complete the survey: “We knew we needed to do much more than just another survey. Everyone living in Christchurch has been consulted again and again since the earthquakes, and often it was the same people responding every time. We needed something fresh that would reach new people, capture the youth voice, and make the whole community feel like they actually had a stake in the answer.”

The Huihui Mai brand used a bold colour palette with creative that used illustrations on actual photos of iconic Canterbury locations and a diverse set of locals. The six-week, multifaceted campaign involved advertising, media relations, community workshops, activations, social media and video. The campaign achieved 7,067 responses, more than double the original target of 3,000, with 35% of respondents aged under 35.

Great Scott founder Jo Scott says the campaign brought the agency together: “Great Scott is a Swiss Army knife and Huihui Mai used all of our tools – te reo translation, branding and creative, videography and photography alongside strategic communications, research and community engagement. We were all behind it, 100% focused and determined for it to succeed. We responded to issues in real time – reshaping creating and targeting the spend on where it was having the greatest impact – unsurprisingly that included TikTok. That is why we broke the record and how we were able to engage thousands of young people.”

The IABC judging panel noted: “Your project is a beautiful example of how thoughtful, strategic communication can solve real-world civic challenges. There is a seamless approach that ties everything together, from the way you identified consultation fatigue at the start to the vibrant, youth-focused energy of the final videos. It’s clear that every decision was made with the audience in mind, and the exceptional results show just how much that resonated. This project serves as a fine blueprint for how agencies can work together to make public engagement feel genuinely inclusive and exciting.”

View the full list of winners here.

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