Digital Transformation in the Pacific: The Kava House, Vanuatu.

Pandanus Consulting Directors, Nicky Barnes and Jackie Potgieter

This month we’re focusing on the Digital Transformation of small and medium sized businesses in the Pacific. Through the BLP Subsidy we’ve connected business advisory services with eligible small businesses in need of digital marketing advice and assistance.

Pandanus Consulting’s professional and responsive team draw from their unique knowledge of Vanuatu and the Pacific to create relevant solutions that work. A multi-disciplined agency with over 30 years combined experience in marketing, advertising and graphic design, they are now working with us to assist eligible SMEs with subsidised creative marketing services, starting with The Kava House.

Pandanus Consulting’s directors Nicky Barnes and Jackie Potgieter are Vanuatu residents who spent many years working in Africa, Australia, the Caribbean, Europe and New Zealand before choosing to make Vanuatu their home.

“We began our business in Vanuatu in 2010, and now have a team of five dedicated staff and collaborate with many more. All of Pandanus staff are young Ni Vanuatu, who we selected due to their exceptional attitudes – their willingness to learn, to achieve and to ensure the absolute best service is delivered to our clients.” – Jackie Potgieter-

Here is the fourth story in our Digital Transformation series featuring Kava producer and retailer, The Kava House.

While Pandanus Consulting’s clients are varied, some examples of their well-known Vanuatu SME clients include Tanna Farms, Link Personnel Services, World Car Rentals, and now, The Kava House.

Pandanus Consulting created unique and fun packaging and point of sale materials for Tanna Farm’s coconut oil, lip balms, peanut butter, soaps and peanuts which are marketed and sold internationally. They also designed their corporate collateral and website to present a unified and professional brand.

Link Personnel Services, a local recruitment company wanted a face lift and to boost their recognition in the marketplace. They started with a rename (formerly Consulting Vanuatu) to better reflect the business, created their new visual identity and with the use of custom photography, rolled out the new branding to stationery, vehicles, signage, web graphics and print advertising.

World Car Rentals Vanuatu wanted a brand that was ‘fun and funky’ and stood out without looking corporate or expensive and using a graphical logo, rather than a wordmark. The resulting logo and brand is friendly yet professional, and the bright island style illustrations reflect the client’s sense of adventure and escapism, while maintaining a strong message.

The Kava House

“Pandanus Consulting is working with iconic Vanuatu small business, the Kava House, who specialise in top quality Vanuatu kava products organically produced by Vanuatu farmers and then processed and packaged for local and global markets,” says Jackie.

BLP connected the Kava House with Pandanus Consulting following a BLP Business Health Check, which identified the need for improved professional marketing services to revamp their website, targeted advertising and roadside signage to promote their services to tourists.

“The Kava House needed highly visible branding of their services at their business location and they needed to do more media advertising directed to tourists. Pandanus Consulting has designed new press advertising and bold outdoor signage. A new large steel framed sign will soon be installed perpendicular to the road outside The Kava House’s premises in Mele (on Vanuatu’s main island of Efate) and will be highly visible to traffic passing in either direction,” says Jackie.

“We literally needed to put them “on the map” so tourists can find them. The Kava House is now promoted in Pandanus Consulting’s annual 2019 Hotspots Map and Vouchers. It is great exposure with 75,000 copies of the Hotspots Map and Vouchers distributed to all hotels, car rentals, cafes, at the airport, and handed out directly to tourists arriving by cruise ships.”