Mount Maunganui based WOODS Agency won Gold and Bronze at two separate events earlier this month.

They were awarded bronze at the New Zealand BeST Design Awards in Auckland, and gold at the Tauranga LiNKT Young People in Business Awards held in Mount Maunganui.

WOODS were also runner up in the YRW Young Business Owner of the Year category and the Social and Environmental Leadership category at the Tauranga LiNKT Business Awards.

Established in a Papamoa Beach bach in 2004, WOODS has grown and created long-term partnerships with innovative, design led businesses throughout New Zealand, the South Pacific, UK, Sweden and the USA.

Safesurfer approached WOODS Agency in 2016 to help develop a strong brand identity and messaging that could be understood universally across multiple countries. Safesurfer offers a safe access point for families to access the web, protecting families and children from the unfiltered internet.

'Safesurfer has a strong brand presence identifiable with surf lifesaving, it is internationally recognised across cultures and offers a positive spin on a subject that can be quite negative and hard to discuss. The brand visually connects the danger of virtual surfing with its real-world counterpart,” says business director Reuben Woods.

WOODS was awarded a Bronze BeST Design Award in recognition of their excellence in design, visual communication and public good.

WOODS Agency was also awarded the official title of Priority One Tauranga Young Business Innovator of the Year 2017.

Reuben says innovation is known to be a key competitive advantage for business.

'It is synonymous with risk-taking, revolutionising products, services and technologies and the creation of new markets. Businesses that innovate create more efficient work processes and have better productivity and performance.

'WOODS demonstrated this through our flexible business model and structure, service to clients, streamlined systems and processes, internal project and product software development, pure guts, knowledge and collaboration with international brand experts to operate as a business and thought leader.

'We have created a dynamic culture and lead the way with our innovative thinking and creative problem solving. It is the catalyst for our business growth and success.”