The $20 million four-year Brand Australia program was revealed by Minister for Trade Simon Crean at the Sydney Opera House on May 14, and focuses more on Australia’s business credentials and creativity than its iconic tourism icons.

In his address to media Mr Crean said Brand Australia and the new Australia Unlimited brand is about selling Australia to the world and demonstrating the full versatility and diversity our nation offers.

“We need to market ourselves better. Australia is known as a great place to have a holiday but it is also a great place to do business. We should be better regarded as a dynamic and creative nation, a good global citizen and a strong business partner.”

Mr Crean said it was imperative for Australia to receive greater recognition of its achievements, and cited as examples how Australia has had 11 Nobel prize winners, given the “bionic ear” to the world, developed a vaccine for cervical cancer, and created Google Maps.

“It’s a brand that seeks to capture the diversity and versatility of the nation. Each time I travel overseas I’m struck by two things: our ability to meet so many of the needs of the countries with which we seek to trade, and their lack of awareness of the diversity of Australia in being able to meet those needs.

“In whatever we apply ourselves to we do produce quality outcomes; we do punch above our weight in so many ways. We know it but the rest of the world doesn’t. Quite frankly, being the quiet achiever isn’t going to cut it in the 21st century.

“This is a view that has also been echoed by Simon Anholt, a world-renowned expert in nation branding. Anholt’s nation brands index highlighted the need for Australia to build an image that extends beyond tourism, beyond lifestyle. He concluded the rest of the world fails to acknowledge Australia’s economic impact, its political gravitas, or its intellectual contributions. In simple terms, we need and deserve a better reputation.”
Mr Crean said Brand Australia is aimed to ensure that the world is no longer surprised by the quality of our smart manufacturing, of the ability of our entrepreneurs, the innovation of our scientists, the achievements of our sports men and women, or the creativity of our artists.

“Ours is a great story, and it’s well past time we stopped being so shy about telling our story to the rest of the world.

“We are more than a quarry and a farm. Brand Australia takes us far beyond tourism. We don’t want this to be known as just a place to visit. We want it to be a place where people seek to invest; a great place where people can build their business, either as a global or regional base. Our qualities of fairness, inclusion, tolerance, coupled with that can do attitude position us as a welcoming, embracing nation, as well as a creative and innovative one.”

The Brand Australia program was announced by Simon Crean on August 26, 2009. M&C Saatchi was the successful tenderer for the project after long deliberations including that of a brand advisory board which included CEO of the Melbourne Convention + Visitors Bureau, Sandra Chipchase.

M&C Saatchi will now enter an intensive development phase working on initiatives including the visual identity, brand strategy, architecture and associated creative resources.

At the Sydney launch Ms Chipchase said she was delighted with Australia Unlimited.

“It works beautifully for the business events sector because there are unlimited opportunities and locations and venues and ideas in how to stage business events in our country,” she said.

“We are not limited in our thinking; Aussies will always give it a go, always rise to the challenge; we have unlimited expertise in this country, unlimited enthusiasm, unlimited innovation, and to me it’s a perfect fit for our sector and all the other sectors – from education through to agriculture.

“I urge everybody to get behind this. As we saw with the Sydney Olympics one logo can have tremendous impact. For this, if people can embrace it, put it on their website, on their [marketing] materials, get behind it, then it’s going to send Australia’s message to the world.

“We [the Melbourne Convention + Visitors Bureau] will be using it in our printed materials, on our website, and certainly in our bid presentations because naturally when we’re bidding for international meetings we’re selling Australia, number one, Melbourne, number two, and products and services number three.

“For us the Australia Unlimited concept is something that we intend to take to our international competitors because we believe it will give Melbourne and of course Australia a competitive advantage.

“It’s definitely going to be about selling the unlimited opportunities Australia presents.”

Mr Crean took Brand Australia to the Shanghai Expo in late May, and Australia Unlimited was also on display at the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, however, no further details were provided on exactly what this meant.









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