Ocean Design, Wellington’s oldest independent brand and design agency, has begun 2024 with the addition of two new partners to better equip the agency for telling multicultural brand stories in contemporary Aotearoa.
Matthew Everitt (Ngāti Ranginui) and Rhueben Meredith, have joined Ocean Design founder Blair Mainwaring as business partners. Both Matthew and Rhueben have been with Ocean for a number of years and have built reputations as leading exponents in the complementary areas of digital design and crafting brand identities.
Ocean Founder Blair Mainwaring says the addition of the partners is an extension of the process of continuous evolution that has seen Ocean remain relevant to Aotearoa’s leading organisations for over 35 years.
“We started in 1988 and we’ve been changing as society has changed ever since. Today we’re a certified B Corp and we’re entering a new phase of design-led strategy and brand storytelling. Bringing in such talented young partners as Rheuben and Matthew is all about accelerating our evolution and keeping our clients’ brands relevant in our changing world,” he says.
Matthew Everitt joined Ocean as a graduate and now steps into the partnership with a reputation as a digital design specialist who is expert in merging digital technologies and data to find new ways to solve old problems for clients.
Rhueben Meredith, who is of Samoan and European heritage, is a human centred design specialist whose creative mahi reflects the nuances of changing audience needs, by weaving cultural narratives, values and complex ideas together.
“Ocean has always been about crafting brand identities and stories that are authentic, innovative and resonate with New Zealanders because they express the best parts of who we are as people. The different skills of my new partners mean we have doubled down on our ability to do that,” Blair Mainwaring says.
