A Christchurch-owned billboard company founded out of a family business has become today's clearest founder-focused local business story after VAST Billboards was named Sales Team of the Year at the 2026 Beacon Awards.
Local reporting on Friday said VAST won the national award despite operating with a sales team of just six people. The Commercial Communications Council confirmed the award, with judges recognising how the company turned its market position into an advantage. VAST was recognised in a field that included major media businesses JCDecaux New Zealand, TVNZ and New Zealand Media and Entertainment, making the result a strong signal for Christchurch's independent media and advertising sector.
The company's founder story gives the award more weight than a routine industry prize. VAST's own website describes the business as Christchurch-owned and operated, focused on making digital advertising more accessible to the local community and to businesses that might otherwise assume digital out-of-home media is only for large brands. Its team page lists Grant Moreton as managing director, Louise Moreton as finance director and Ivana Moreton as agency account director.
A Gallagher Insurance profile of the business says VAST was established after the Covid-19 pandemic hit Ivana Moreton's tourism and events role. The profile says Ivana teamed up with her parents Grant and Louise Moreton to form the company, drawing on the family's advertising experience and their existing Media Metro digital billboard work in Fiji. That makes the Beacon Awards result a classic Christchurch founder story: a business created during disruption, built around local knowledge and then scaled into a national network.
VAST Head of Growth Strategy Gary Rosewarne told local media the award was an extraordinary achievement for an independent company. He said being named the country's top media sales team was especially meaningful for a small independent business. The company's public response also emphasised a belief that regional New Zealand matters, and that advertising should not be shaped only by the country's largest centres.
That point is relevant for Canterbury businesses. Digital billboards are often discussed as big-city media, but VAST's pitch is that suburban and regional audiences are commercially important. Its network has grown beyond Christchurch into regional centres and other major markets, while still presenting itself as a local operator. For Christchurch, the award is evidence that a company does not have to abandon regional positioning to compete nationally.
The recognition also lands in a difficult market for media and advertising. Sales teams are under pressure to prove reach, attribution and value while clients watch budgets closely. A small team winning against larger incumbents suggests VAST's advantage may be its ability to move quickly, stay close to local advertisers and sell regional audiences as an asset rather than a limitation.
For founders and local operators, the practical lesson is clear. A business can start with a narrow problem, such as making high-impact digital advertising more accessible, and still compete in a national category if it turns that focus into a credible system. VAST's win gives Christchurch a local example of a founder-led company turning post-pandemic disruption into a growth story with national recognition.
