Is New Zealand’s “100% Pure” brand in need of an overhaul?
On Wednesday 6 February 2012 in Travel Daily News Asia Pacific New Zealand tourism academic Michael Hall is quoted as saying that a rethink is needed on New Zealand’s 100% Pure campaign.
We at TPM strongly disagree with Professor Hall on this. New Zealand must maintain its 100% Pure brand positioning and tagline. A weakness of many tourism destinations and businesses is that they often believe that a brand is an advertising campaign. New Zealand has had ‘it right’ for a long time, maintaining a clear consistent brand message of a rare eco and outdoor wonderland. This consistency has been a significant strength of New Zealand tourism. Sure it is great to evolve the 100% Pure branding, but not to discard its core values in search of something new.
In comparison Australia’s brand has been a long series of advertising campaigns offering mixed messages and confusion. Tourism Australia has long attempted to regain the success of the 1980’s Paul Hogan advertising campaigns and in the process has neglected the development of a long term and stable brand for Australia.
Apart from Australian visitors, New Zealand has relied heavily upon high yield North American and European travellers, markets that have not fully recovered from the GFC. Changing brand is not a short-term panacea for sales. Increased New Zealand visitation can best be achieved through product and sales innovation, and not by using their tourism brand as an ever-changing sales device.