The following piece is the work of Lauren Harrigan who attended FAHS from 2009-2013. In her final year Lauren was a highly successful School President and also gained Scholarship in Media Studies. Lauren wrote to me explain what writing today can involve.
Thank you for inviting me to be a part of the Feilding High School Writers blog.
The part of your proposal that I was most drawn to was the premise that writing/copywriting can be a paid job, or an integral part of one’s job. In that vein, I would like to share my latest project (which I am currently being paid for!), the “Digital Journey” campaign for A Waka Odyssey, which is the flagship opening event of the New Zealand Festival, the biggest arts festival in the country, held every two years in the capital. It’s part of my work with Wellington-based agency Double Denim. I hope it’s a really practical look into how writing for a job can be done.
Our client asked in their brief that we create a campaign that will educate New Zealanders (a typical, mainstream audience from anywhere in the country) on what A Waka Odyssey is about in the lead up to the event. In brief, A Waka Odyssey is a three-part weekend which starts on the Friday night with a unique theatrical spectacle staged on the waters of Te Whanganui-A-Tara, Wellington Harbour. The event has a cast of thousands – a thousand-strong haka, a choir of 250, a fleet of waka ama (Maori war canoes), and five epic waka hourua (traditional double-hulled Pacific voyaging vessels) that have sailed from all over Aotearoa and the Pacific to be there. It will be absolutely epic, a historical event that is likely never to be repeated on this scale.
The digital campaign is intended to set the scene for what will happen over the weekend, open a conversation on themes such as Pacific waka culture, Maori history, the arrival of Kupe to New Zealand, celestial navigation, and showcase the rich arts presence within Pacific waka culture. It is also meant to include those who can’t travel to be part of the event, but who are still interested in the project. We want our audiences to learn something before they even get to the waterfront on the 23rd February, when A Waka Odyssey is being held.
We created a 23-day campaign with unique content (word, video, imagery) posted to the Waka Odyssey page on the New Zealand Festival website as well as the Festival’s Facebook and Instagram pages. You can find the journey here. It is still rolling out, and will be until the 23rd. I’ve written thousands of words’ worth of copy, done hours of research, and interviewed countless people to help put this campaign together. I’ve written about a content sprint to create video pieces for the campaign. I’ve written about the man who proved that early discoverers of New Zealand didn’t drift here or come across it accidentally, but instead sailed here intentionally using thousands of years of scientific and cultural knowledge. I’ve written about amazing aspects of Pacific waka culture that haven’t been published yet, but watch this space!
I guess what I want to emphasise here is that writing can take so many different forms, especially in this digital space. Good writing will always be good, no matter where it is posted or in what form. You don’t need to be getting your poetry published in literary journals, or be producing longform creative nonfiction to feel like you are a legitimate or “good” writer. You just need to be authentic and adaptable when it comes to getting your writing out there, especially if you want to get paid for it!
I’ve also attached some screenshots of some pages from the campaign website if you want to put them on the website.
Lauren Harrigan
Editor’s Note: I am struggling to transfer the screenshots to this page but will keep trying.