My working life has revolved around partnerships. My expertise is to identify two (or more) parties with potential to do great things together and come up with a plan to make it happen. That includes sports teams and rights owners; athletes or individual talent; corporate brands; government agencies; not-for-profit; charities; or any other organisation that is a good fit. Before I moved to New Zealand in 2004 I worked with some of the biggest names in English football including David Beckham. My job was to bring corporate sponsors and players together to form a partnership that worked for both of them. My accent, love of strong tea, and my support for Man Utd are about the only English traits I have left! While I was born in Wales and grew up near Manchester, I feel very Kiwi and I’ve been lucky enough to work with some iconic NZ teams, brands and charities.As Sales & Marketing Manager with the Warriors I was involved in the launch of the Vodafone One Tribe community. Working as the Head of Sponsorship at Vodafone gave me a unique perspective from both sides of the partnership model and an empathy for the objectives and challenges faced by both parties. I spent 10 years with Gemba, a global strategy and marketing communications company. After they closed their New Zealand office in 2020, We established Honoco, a partnership consultancy tailored for the NZ market. In te reo Māori the word 'Hono' means to join, connect, or link. What drives me is curiosity and connection. That includes an appreciation for the client's objectives and a deep understanding of their audience, how they feel, and what they need. The problems we solve for our clients typically answer the questions:● Who is your most engaged audience?● What do you want your audience to feel or do?● Who is the best partner to help make that happen?● How much will it cost?Our recommendations are based on 25+ years working in the partnership sector, a genuine curiosity to understand their business, and the latest data from our research and the market. The research is a critical piece of the puzzle. Without the audience data, we’re like Tinder or an old-style matchmaker bringing two people together based on nothing more than emotion or a hunch. The data enables us to be independent, non-partisan, experts who provide the strategy and insights to initiate, evaluate and enable partnerships with the optimum outcome in mind for all parties. We help our clients make rational, informed decisions about who to collaborate with and why.Ph: +64 21 903 100E: richard@honoco.nz