The Collective Case Study
Success Stories
29.04.24
Hi, I'm Helen Costello, and I'm the Marketing Director at The Collective.
Who is The Collective?
The Collective is a yoghurt company based in Auckland. You’ll know us as the one with the cow on it! We’ve been making fantastic yoghurt that comes in all sorts of shapes, sizes, pots, and pouches here in New Zealand since 2009.
What motivated The Collective to choose a .kiwi Domain?
When I asked the original founder why he chose .kiwi, he literally said because it's cool. Also, because .com wasn't available, and we, at the time, had plans to enter the UK market, and the .kiwi domain actually did all the hard lifting for us. Not only did it enable us to have a domain name in the UK, but immediately everyone could associate .kiwi with a New Zealand brand.
In what ways has the .kiwi domain helped The Collective stand out in the online landscape?
Our .kiwi domain has enabled us to literally live and breathe our values. We are proudly an outspoken New Zealand brand that does things our own way, and .kiwi represents that. Everybody and anyone can be a .com or a .co.nz. But being a .kiwi gave us a voice and a profile that we've continuously used throughout all our packaging and comms online and in stores.
How do you believe the .kiwi domain has contributed to building trust and recognition amongst your audience?
Using the .kiwi domain name was a really nice link with our brand positioning, which is “never boring, no bull”, as it's an unexpected way to turn up. Probably more so in the UK than anywhere else because immediately it was associated with us being a New Zealand brand, and there's something really powerful about being a New Zealand brand in the UK. Especially being a New Zealand brand that is a dairy brand as well, as New Zealand is known for their dairy. Ironically .kiwi helped join the dots and it's become a part of who we are. We don't even think about the fact that we use it as it's just a natural fit. Using the .kiwi name has built trust amongst our audience and has become an instantly recognisable symbol of the fact that we are a New Zealand brand.
Were there any challenges or concerns when choosing a .kiwi domain?
You know, I don't even think the founders thought about it. I think they just felt like it was such a natural fit that it made sense.
How do you envision the .kiwi domain continuing to play a role in the future growth and success of your brand?
The continuation of using .kiwi is important as it's now part of who we are as a brand. It will always be there, we're proud of it, and we'll continue to use it going on.
What advice would you give to other New Zealand businesses considering adopting a .kiwi domain?
I’d say join the club! It is who we are. It's a simple, easy way of immediately creating a connection with who we are as a country, and who your business or brand is. .kiwi represents our national identity and it's a natural fit. I don't know why more companies don't take advantage of it, especially because it's so much more fun. Also quite frankly, writing .kiwi is a lot quicker than writing .co.nz.