By Jane Han
Staff Reporter
A clean and green oasis, 100 percent pure, and the land of ``Lord of the Rings'' are some of New Zealand's signature images that have been shaped over the years, transforming the southwestern Pacific dairy country into the world's fourth most desired place to visit in 2006. How did this happen?
Competitive national branding, says the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), adding that an equivalent tourism and trade boost would happen here if Korea benchmarked some of New Zealand's winning points.
The trade group highlighted that the ``all-natural'' country has successfully positioned itself through an effective private corporation, thorough brand research and clear goal-driven strategies.
Starting in 1999, New Zealand _ well known for its environmental efforts _ campaigned with the catchy slogan ``100% Pure'' in all of its key markets for trade and consumer events, advertising and marketing.
Although the principal tag line is ``100% Pure New Zealand,'' the government allowed private corporations to extend the campaign to fit their businesses, such as ``100% Romance'' and ``100% Pure Adventure.''
The catch phrase is now used by some 170 exporting and services companies, said KOTRA.
The country's well-kept environment successfully translated into money as a 2001 study by New Zealand's Environmental Ministry said the ``clean and green'' image would be worth ``hundreds of millions, possibly billions of dollars.''
And to sustain its competitive national brand, KOTRA added that the birthplace of bungee jumping carries out ongoing market research with a global advertising agency, which also helps to tweak branding strategies.
Although the original campaign target for ``100% Pure'' was the tourism, farming and dairy industries, the government realized its shortcoming in marketing the local information technology and next-generation industries, which gave birth to the follow-up slogan ``New Thinking New Zealand'' in 2003.
KOTRA's research showed that incoming visitors increased 53 percent since the ``100% Pure'' campaign kicked off and the ``New Thinking New Zealand'' efforts, including the replacement of wine corks with screw caps, also substantially hiked exports.
``If some of New Zealand's methods were applied to our national branding, it would help sharpen our competitive edge as well,'' said So Byung-taek, divisional director of KOTRA, adding that government agencies and corporations' cooperation is crucial to support a national brand campaign.
The government is currently campaigning its ``Vision for Brand Power Korea 2010,'' which aims to have 70 percent of total Korean exports come from brand name companies and to place more than 10 Korean brands on the world's 100 most recognized names list by 2010.
jhan@koreatimes.co.kr
