Wellington's Greatest Deed

Wellington City Mission – a charity specialising in providing facilities and support for those most vulnerable – was responding to the crisis by building a transformative new home for the homeless. Called ‘Whakamaru’ in indigenous Māori – meaning ‘shelter’ – it was to be a state-of-the-art new housing facility for the city, consisting of 35 emergency and transitional housing apartments, a social supermarket, laundry, café and communal facilities. Designed specifically to support Wellington’s most vulnerable community members in making the transition towards long-term housing solutions.

To encourage Wellingtonians to dig deep to support the final stages of the build, we needed to create a spectacle that would reignite momentum and support

Instead of asking people for donations, we turned donors into joint homeowners of Whakamaru. And a lot of owners meant the ownership deed was going to have to be a little…bigger than usual.

Enter Wellington’s Greatest Deed: a live, living, larger-than-life document for all to see, and all to add their name. Calling on an entire city to get behind the cause.

Hanging 7 meters (23 feet) tall in a high-profile central Wellington spot, the traditional single billboard became a live event that tracked campaign progress in real time, as more and more people added their names to the billboard, and to the cause.

Signatures were added weekly by one of New Zealand’s most recognisable and well-loved personalities, Sir Ashley Bloomfield – who braved a fear of heights to abseil down the billboard live on camera, to sign names on behalf of donors. His appearance on the billboard helped draw mass organic attention to the billboard, featured in prime placements on the front-page of one of New Zealand’s most widely distributed newspapers, and during prime-time spots on national news and radio stations.

As momentum grew, the Deed was updated weekly until all 1,258 spots were filled. Then signed and officiated by Wellington's Mayor, before taking pride of place in Whakamaru itself, as an official document recognising the many joint homeowners of Whakamaru.