Brand Australia
The Rudd government has decided to revive that perennial question: how do you go about rebranding Australia? It has invited advertising agencies to bid for a multi-million dollar contract to come up with a ringing new slogan and a wizard new logo.
Understandably enough, the government wants to get away from the "shrimp on the barbie" image that was popularised by Paul Hogan in the Come and Say G'Day! a quarter century ago, even though it's the most successful marketing campaign that Australia has even seen. Fun and lifestyle, which traditionally have been major selling points, are a bit passe.
Instead, it wants something altogether more grown-up and sophisticated, spruiking Australia's creativity, innovation, entrepreneurial spirit, spirit of social inclusion and ingenuity. In other words, it wants to project modern Australia to the world, not some pastiche from the early 1950s with a soundtrack from Rolf Harris (don't get me wrong, I love Rolf, but you know what I mean...).
"We need a cohesive brand that captures the essence of Australia and underscores the quality of all that we have to offer in sectors such as trade, investment and education," according to Trade Minister Simon Crean. "It is time for Australia to more actively promote itself."
This isn't a tourism campaign per se, it's a national marketing campaign. The aim is to persuade people that Australia is not only a good place in which to enjoy a holiday, but to live, invest and do business.
Ideally, the Australian government wants to emulate the success of New Zealand's 100% Pure New Zealand tagline, and South Africa's Rainbow Nation. Though it is confident about its product, it is suffering from a bit of brand envy.
Admittedly, neatly encapsulating Australia in one pithy slogan is going to be tough. "We have a physicality that defies belief in terms of desert to snow to rainforests to beaches to big cities," says Chris Brown of the lobby group the Tourism and Transport Forum. "We produce everything you can imagine from fine wine to iron ore, highest levels of education down to Billabong board shorts, I mean how do you put all of that together in one little logo or ad, I don't know that you can."
People are already having a go on the talk-back radio stations and in the papers. "The Best Country in the World" seems popular, if contentious. "So far so good," has a ring to it, though it reminds people of the long in long-haul destination. "Come and shake the sauce bottle down under," might have champions in The Lodge, although Kevin Rudd noted, in one of his less ocker moments, that the Where the Bloody Hell Are You? tourism campaign was a "rolled gold disaster".
"The Lucky Country" seems popular, though it would have the journalist Donald Horne, who coined the nation's most misappropriated phrase, revolving in his grave.
Can you do better?
I'm 
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~52~RS~)
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I'm a UK ex-pat living in Sydney. Here's my suggested slogan:
Australia - it's not as far as New Zealand.
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Im not really going to take credit for it but i think you hit the nail on the head yourself.
"Australia - Could you do better?"
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Understandably enough, the government wants to get away from the "shrimp on the barbie" image that was popularised by Paul Hogan in the Come and Say G'Day!
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No one here in the UK actually believe that is a true representation of Australia anymore. It's simply a characature representation like the London Cockney geezer, the Scottish miser, Irish drinker or Welshman who can't stop singing.
Australia does not need to rebrand itself, it is seen as a land of winners from it's sporting success, a land of beauty and excitement from it's tourism adverts and a land that embraces international cultures. What exactly about that is wrong?
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Welcome to the original arena for spin - ADVERTISING !
Many governments now see spin as a major "crutch" in any policy.
We, the world-wide public, have become just a little sceptical about such progaganda.
A country will define its own self and its own image. This will be accepted for what is it by the citizenry of the world, and we will act accordingly.
No one but a fool would promote an image and then try to live up to it !
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Australia - "Nature's greatest miracle"
by its diversity, environment, resources, people, animals etc
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Australia is not a 'brand' and any campaign that treats the country like a tin of beans will work out just as badly as the "Where the **** are you?" one. No doubt we will pay a truckload of money to come up with another stupid slogan. I'm surprised Kevin Rud hasn't already appointed a national 20-20 style consultation to involve the whole country in picking one - oh, he has. And he's got Simon Crean to do the job! Expect something like: "Australia - an appropriate destination for leisure travel and investment" (Authorised by the Australian Government, Canberra).
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How about "Australia, holders of the Ashes!" Oh...yes sorry to bring that up again!
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Good blog, Nick. Particularly interesting in light of your recent cultural cringe/creep blog. What is this infantile obsession with branding? Here's a suggestion: "Australia: Make up your own mind; we don't give a monkey's"
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When I was in London in the early sixties there was an advertisement on many underground stations to attract migrants to Australia. The main punchline was " In Australia you CAN!" and it showed a young couple looking happily at a nice suburban house in bright sunshine. However on some of the ads some antipodean wag had added after the CAN "become a wingeing Pommy bastard!"
So, whatever slogan is chosen, the possible add-on needs to be carefully considered.
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Australia: Big Country: come explore
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" "The Best Country in the World" seems popular "
Ha ha ha, well there's a surprise!! I'd like to say that you've got to be kidding, but I believe it! It's exactly what I would expect to be popular. But don't get me started, I'll only be accused of stereotyping...
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How about "Australia: big is beautiful."
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How about...
Australia: Eat my Dust
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Nick,
Donald Horne became quite disappointed over the popular misunderstanding of his thesis, long before his death.
Thinking of branding disasters, I remember the cringing 1970s promotion of Australian red wines under the "Kanga Rouge" brand,I'm sure some agency was paid well for that appalling effort. Since (like CEOs) there's no positive correlation between the size of the fees paid and the quality of the work supplied by ad agencies,why not have a popular vote, it would be a lot cheaper.
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Australia should emphasise the variety of cuktural backgrounds of its population. I suggest "Australia: We're rooted!"
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My country needs to have an image that befits the 21st century. We are the people who built a modern nation in just over 2 centuries. Australia has achieved success on international sporting fields, music, fashion and eduction etc. We are accepted all over the world as a friendly, outgoing people. Our acceptance of people who migrated here is shown in multiculturism. We need a slogan that reminds other nations of what we have achieved,and we have the people to write such a message.
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Nick, why do we have to have a "brand" at all?. Afterall, we are a huge country, full of all kinds of geographical, physical and urban wonders. Visitors who come here usually appreciate all these things, those who don't just miss out. My fifth generation Australian heritage is a very precious part of my life, and I think that this applies to everyone in the world. Is is necessary to advertise these things? Come and see us if you will, and we go to other countries as visitors and enjoy what they have to offer. I feel that we are still the Lucky Country, even as that might mean different things to what it used to in earlier years.
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I told my wife about the subject of your blog and she immediately offered the following suggestions for a slogan.
1 Come out on top with us down under.
2 Australia's going places.
My idea was
Australia, the wonder down under.
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Is it really important what others think about us? It's far more important what we think about our country.
We'll never change the British perception of us, so why try. As for the rest of tired old Europe, who cares?
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I agree with several comments that point out Australians know what's wonderful about the sunburnt country, but tourism is a huge income generator that contributes to making life sweet. You do need a catchy slogan to get people to fly the extra distance with so many cheaper and sometimes higher quality tourist destinations on offer. I'll add another one: Australia: dream on.
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Australia! Its like England but better.
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To go with a multi-million dollar campaign in Asia, especially India:
Australia: Come, have a bash!
On a more serious note, if Australia wants to remain friends with its Asian neighbours, it needs to do more to reinforce the message that it is not a racist and a cheat, the two images it seems to be rapidly acquiring in Asia.
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"plenty of room inside"
"come, touch the sky"
"a land barely touched by man"
let's get em into the countryside, where tourist spending will really make a difference.
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How about;
Australia: We can't wait to be like Obamaland!
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What America was to the 20th Century, Australia will be to the 21st. A place where, if your willing to work hard enough, the lifestyle and the fortune to be made still can. One of the very few places left on Earth that is still open and free, where it really doesn't matter where you come from but where you are going. Australia is a life-raft to what all countries aspire to, but hurry because it won't stay like this forever.
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Australia - simply the vest.
Australia - we're all Neighbours.
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Australia is very hot, dry and flat. For lizards, these are enormous benefits.
As a mammal, however, even if the ozone layer were intact, the dry wind would still turn your face into human jerky after a couple of decades. The ozone layer ist kaput, of course, und so the wombats are getting the skin cancer.
Pack a book, but don't let the locals catch you reading it.
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raameshgr,
Which of our virtuous Asian neighbours do you refer to as a model of racial harmony? India with its obsession with skin colour and racially based caste system,perhaps Malaysia where discrimination against non Malays is practised or any other SE Asian country where "ethnic" tensions sometimes erupt into murderous violence.Would you like to be a Uighur perhaps? Of course we can improve,but let's get some perspective.
We've been a soft target for far too long.
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"...and so the wombats are getting the skin cancer."
Tasmanian Devils.
And no, Devil Facial Tumour Disease is not related to depleted ozone. It's a rare transmissable cancer, an allograft of cancer cells spread from 1 Tasmanian Devil to another as they bite and fight, Most of the Devil population lacks the genetic capacity to recognise the cells as foreign, so the cancer cells multiply unimpeded until the tumour takes over their face and the animal can no longer feed
Maybe next time, don't just pack the book but do what the locals do and read it?
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"Is it really important what others think about us?"
In the context of luring tourists - yes.
It's not about how Australians see themselves, it's about snaring the tourist dollar.
Personally, I think the high AUD$ has ruled out the cheap mass market for the time being, so I wouldn't encourage Tourism Australia to waste too much taxpayers' money
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#29 - well played.
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Speaking of Donald Horne, we could always go for the niche market and revive the slogan used by The Bulletin magazine, which Horne dropped when he became editor in the 1960s. That would appeal to the sizeable anti-Obama crowd in the US.
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How about:
"Don't believe the hype, but no worries, it's still a nice place".
Seriously, if you think it's weird to have a "brand" for a country, can someone explain to me why we living in Queensland need to see adverts for.....holidaying in Queensland? I'm not sure whether it's a lack of self-confidence (Queenslanders are renowned for their shy, retiring nature) or the exact opposite.
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Victoria's tourism slogan is 'you'll love every piece of Victoria' which is a brilliant phrase beacuse it allows Victoria to be marketed as a whole, whilst recognising the differences in regions throughout the state.
Australia needs something like that, a slogan/message which crosses boundaries and thus works with tourism and the other areas the federal governement wants to cover such as trade.
Something like 'Australia - naturaly beautiful, beautiful naturaly' might work because you can get many important meanings from the one line. The slogan doesn't limit us to being simply a wide brown land, this can discribe people, industries, cities and any of the states and teritories
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Governments trying to brand Australia is doomed to failure mainly because it's so unnecessary. If you want to fund the marketing industry there are easier ways.
That said less stereotypical beer adverts might help.
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Is their any of Nick's blog's without the bitter ramblings of reply 19?
What an advert for the country they profess to love so much.
And how would reply 19 know about Britain or Europe? Such knee jerk nonsense speaks volumes of someone who inhabits a very small world of their own.
'Tired Europe?' Like you'd know.
Yeah, all those nations old and new, just like all Americans are morbidly obese gun nuts, or all Australians are glued to the barbie chugging Foster wearing a cork hat.
If anyone in the UK does have an negative view of Australia, it's only because they ran into someone like reply 19.
A very small mind in a very big country. No one secure in their own identity comes out with the paranoid nonsense we see here from reply 19.
I await Nick's blog about the dust storm where reply 19 blames it on the 'Poms'.
To the subject at hand.
How about 'We don't need any slick slogans, come and see for yourself'.
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wjburt (19):"Is it really important what others think about us? It's far more important what we think about our country."
I think the second comment's suggestion would work well in the UK, where understatement seems to be more valued/appreciated. And parragirl's suggestion in comment 12 would be good for countries facing an obesity epidemic (in other words, most of the developed world)!
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How about "Are you a good witch, or a bad witch? Whichever, let Oz cast its spell..." Or is that a bit Wicked?
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#25 bondifireman
Poetic but not pithy enough for an advertising slogan.
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If i was Kevin Rudd, I would put millions into developing a faster airplane. The biggest problem Oz has is that fact that it takes so long to fly too.
Oz has alot of great selling points, Beaches, sun, fun etc.
So invest in a faster plane and you can do "OZ, Getting there is getting better"
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It seems that most of the posts missed this line: "This isn't a tourism campaign per se, it's a national marketing campaign."
Australia is the only major country riding the financial crisis, so it is Aussies that have the dollar to spend on travel and holidays in other countries, not the other way round.
My understanding of this campaign is to encourage investment, safe investment, by those companies, businesses and investors, looking for a safe haven during this current financial downturn.
Of course tourism is part of this, but only a small part. If the world doesn't have the dollars to spend, they're not going to take a holiday.
When it comes to investment, our major focus has got to be AWAY from our traditional investors, and towards new places. These include Brasil, Russia, India and China....the BRIC economies...and the growing economies, such as South East Asia....where the money is.
For too long we relied on Britain and America for our investors, especially when it came to the huge amounts of capitol we needed to move our resources out of the ground on onto the export market. Right now our biggest investors by far are China, Japan and South Korea.
It is these nations, I believe, we need to be targeting with our campaign slogan, not the US, Britain/Europe, Canada etc. Later maybe, when their economies improve, but to do so now would be a complete waste of money.
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#40 Do you mean like Concorde?
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AnonymousCalifornian,
I have no idea whether or not you have any knowledge of Australia's relations with its neighbours in SE Asia,if you don't, you're simply pontificating.
Yes,I agree, foreigners' perceptions are important,you've simply stated the obvious,however a simple promotional campaign is naive,extremely naive.There's a great deal of self-serving hypocrisy and ignorance displayed by Asians towards Australia,they assume racism in Australia is as lethal as racism(er.."ethnic tension") in their home countries and until this is corrected, all attempts at "rebranding" are futile. That is my argument.
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Hows about 'Australian Grown'?
Then you can pre-empt the obvious and oh-so-witty "Australian groan" reply by making that very comment a part of the ad campaign..
"American groan - where can I get to some countryside that doesn't have 4-lane freeways and cities all over it?" - cut to various shots of Tasmania, daintree, NT, 90-mile beach etc.. 'Australian grown'
English groan - where can I get decent food without going to France??! - Australian grown.. etc etc
Stack market groan - reply with any of the well performing Aussie local companies & still strong $AUD
And congrats Geelong. Now roll on the Storm!
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Australia needs to appoint a poet laureate for such things rather than some cheap advetising agency. Here are what some Australian poets of the past might have said...
'AUSTRALIA: Quiet, vast and slumbrous, reigns' (Charles Harpur)
'AUSTRALIA: Delos of a coming Sun-God's race' (Bernard O'Dowd)
'AUSTRALIA, Where second-hand Europeans pullulate / Timidly on the edge of alien shores' (A.D. Hope)
'AUSTRALIA, where reside / All things in their imagined counterpart.' (James McAuley )
My own thoughts...
'Australia, God's folly; His early work, a nocturnal land of mutant creatures.'
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Reply 41. I think you hit the nail on the head. For Australia to move forward and continue to grow and stay afloat in this ever changing world we need to look to our neighbour Asia for better ties and move away from our reliance on old allies. We have already begun to do this, we play an active role in Asian economic summits and FIFA now considers us Asian in football terms (soccer!)
We already rely heavily on China's need for our natural resources and this is primary why we've done so well in the current economic climate. Education is also playing an ever greater role in our global trade and this is primarily from SE Asia, but has huge potential growth in China and the ever emerging Indian market.
In order to continue this growth and relationship with our Asian neighbours we need to better understand them as reply 43. so elegantly proved we do not. After all the nation states which we now call Asian countries were largely colonial constructions where lines were draw out of profit, not out of ethnic or religious means. This has clearly had an impact on the way Asian 'nations' go about there business and the instability of a large proportion of the sub continent.
Take the dutch in Indonesia as one simple example. Before the Dutch colonised Indonesia [sic] it was made up of around 300 different ethnicially diverse self governing regions. Oh hang on, much like Australia before white settlers (The British)- what was 43's comment... ethnic tension towards the local population.
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"Australia - Come for a Walk-about"
or
"Australia - "When you're Down, we're Up"
"Australia - No longer a Penal Colony" (just kidding)
I think it's nice for a country to have a slogan. In the USA all the states have a slogan, i.e “It’s good being First” (Delaware) “Montana, Big Sky Country” they also have state birds, flowers, trees - emblems are often depicted on one's license plates. (State name is always on the plate)
It makes for interesting travel in the US/Canada, seeing where people have traveled from.
Not sure if Australia has anything similar?
One day I'm going to see Australia - some of it - I have relatives who immigrated - I know they love their life "down there'
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No 42, I dont mean concorde but it should be a priority for the government to develop a faster airplane, I think Paul Keating said that Oz is at the arse end of the world.
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#48, The point is, it's been done by national governments before, and apparently wan't commercially viable in the long term (certainly not enough to develop a successor). Can't really see Kevin stumping up the cash (though it would be an advantage to him given the amount of travel he does).
#47 Yep. I live in "The Sunshine State" (not florida), or "The Smart State(!)" depending on which registration plate you read.
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How about "Australia - On parole since 1901" or "Hold my beer and watch this!"
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Re both 48 and 49
The government owning a fleet of planes is a political thing.
Qantas was owned by the Aussie Government, and therefore we the people, but with the cost of new planes, and infrastructure generally increasing, the Hawke/Keating Labor Governments decided to sell 49% of their ownership to the general public. To do this successfully meant buying new stock, and so they ran the country into debt, which was why we had a $94billion debt the Liberals harped about for 11 years. The intention was that with a new airline and private investment, but still under government controll, the depbt would be repaid three fold within ten years, especially with the then major increase in international air travellers.
Then we the people kicked out Labor and voted in Little Johnny's Liberals. They immediately put Qantas up for sale, as a fraction of it's real worth, and then complained that they had to pay back a Labor Governmen's debt.
Suffice to say it is highly unlikely Kevin will go anywhere near privatising anything, and you can forget about the Liberals doing anything that will challenge private enterprise, no matter how much I might help the very people that vote them into power...we the people.
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Re 50. Er..1901 was nothing more that the establishment of a Federation of Australian States. We still answer to the British Queen's Governor General, so your comment should have read:
"Australia -Ma'am is still watching."
I like the beer one, thought, that's a classic *S*
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Re my second last post...the 'I' should have been it.
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"Australia - when you need a New Gold Mountain, we're here"
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Love this blog. A brand name should embue confidence and quality in a product. Australia: solid as The Rock. Also an appeal to visitors to Uluru - stop peeing on the inland shrimp.
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#55. The Rock one's good but might not work in the UK, as the Rock (Northern Rock) was the first bank that failed and had to be bought out by the government, marking the start of the KFC over there.
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How about......."Straya! Ashes to Ashes. Dust to Dust."
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Further to my earlier suggestion....here's a couple more (all meant in jest, of course.)
1. "Straya.Yajustgottaluvit"
2. "Australia. We're so full of it. Oi! Oi! Oi!"
3. "Australia. No longer a penile colony we're steel a bunch of deeks".
4. "Australia. What did your grandma go down for? A 10'er?"
LOL, don't worry about the branding, Kevin Rudd. You've more important things to attend to.
"It's the economy, Stupid!"
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The glorious place for glorious times.
Australia, a lifetime of discovery.
Australia, more British than Britain, every day.
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I live in France. When locals here find out I'm from Australia the usual response is disbelief: why would anyone choose to live in France when you could live in Paradise? The comment about the fast plane is a good one. Most people here baulk at the thought of 7 hours to New York, let alone 24+ hours of flying from Paris to Sydney. The cost of the flight is prohibitive too.
So my suggestion:
Australia, come and see for yourself.
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Comment #56 - Northern Rock in UK may have failed but "The Rock Building Society" based in Rocky - that's Rockhampton for youse non Queenslanders - is going well. Check www.therock.com.au
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"Australia - dig it."
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'where all your sh.t drains to'
'trash of the world unite ..here'
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Actually I am a copywriter so I know that no slogan is going to be able to rebrand Australia...there is only one way for Australia to be recognised for what it is and what it can become in the 21st Century and beyond...Australia must become a Republic...the sooner the better.
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I agree with #14 "Australia- the red kangaroo"
My personal pitch to the campaigne is
"Australia/Australasia- still part of Asia"
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What is wrong with a country being know for a relaxed lifestyle of sports, leisure and cold, frosty beverages? I live in Colorado and many Americans move there, willingly taking a hit to their paycheck, to live that sort of lifestyle.
You all have a whole country dedicated to it. So pour a cold one, put the shrimp on the barbie, toss around the rugby ball and be where many Americans wish they could be!
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