AUCKLAND, Today: Nation branding government agency New Zealand Story – with production expertise from the Like Minds creative agency legend Mike O’Sullivan – is launching its Ingenious Together campaign, an awareness initiative that targets international businesses, promoting the ingenuity and unconventional points of difference that help set New Zealanders apart on the global stage.
Building on recent nation-branding efforts by Tourism NZ and NZ Trade & Enterprise, the Ingenious Together films promote 35 innovative Kiwi businesses “to explore why our homegrown thinking attracts world attention”.
The campaign will hit the US, China, Japan, Australia and Singapore today and aims to promote why we need the world to know more about the ingenuity, innovation and unconventional traits of New Zealand’s ‘weightless export’ sectors like technology, gaming and creative industries.
Some of the talent from the films include Young Ly (ceo of DJ software Serato), Helen Clark, Hollywood actor (with ties to NZ) Bryce Dallas Howard, NASA scientist Delwyn Moller, Soul Machines’ Greg Cross, and former Apple and GoPro lead designer Daniel Coster.
New Zealand Story director Rebecca Smith says the awareness campaign is designed to raise New Zealand’s international profile in our key markets of USA, China, Japan, Australia and Singapore. It strategically follows two recent high-impact international campaigns – Made with Care by NZ Trade & Enterprise, and Messages from New Zealand by Tourism NZ.
“New Zealand is starting to be seen as having an advanced economy.”
“We’re excited to leverage the success of recent NZTE and TNZ campaigns by following with a series of rich content that champions Kiwis ingenious ways of thinking,” Smith said.
“New Zealand businesses are highly creative thinkers – restless, adventurous, and unbound by convention – which sees us thinking up brave new ways of addressing problems that other people never knew existed.
“While border closures have impacted some of our traditional export sectors such as tourism, our weightless export sectors such as technology, gaming and the creative industries are very much open for global business.”
“The ingenuity campaign is informed by new qualitative research, a ‘Global Pulse Check’ by One Picture in June 2020, highlighting how global consumers have taken note of the way New Zealanders approach problems – including navigating Covid-19.
“One Picture’s perception research has driven market-specific adaptations of the films to suit the markets where they will play.
“International perceptions of NZ as ‘a nation of problem solvers’ has seen significant gains post-Covid, with scores of 8, 9 or 10 (out of 10) increasing from 36% to 62%, and the ‘10 out of 10’ score alone jumping from 0% to 17%.
“Our island nation has been put on the world stage for navigating a problem that very few nations could replicate as successfully as New Zealand. The pandemic has given us a highly salient proof point for our ingenuity, so the timing of this campaign celebrates and takes advantage of that.”
“NZ is home to artists, inventors and entrepreneurs who come up with original, bold solutions, while always caring for our people and our place.”
According to RepTrack Country Reputation Research carried out between March and April 2020, New Zealand reached the highest ranking in the country’s history of its own benchmarking, reaching fourth place for most reputable country of 55 nations.
New Zealand is also starting to be seen as having an advanced economy, with a dimension score of 69.8, up from 65.7 five years ago. To move this dimension further, we need to focus on attributes like New Zealand’s contribution to global culture, technology advancements and our well-known brands.
The creative approach for the films sees NZ talent, technology credentials and internationally recognised brands feature prominently, as does the value of ‘ingenuity’, ‘integrity’ and ‘kaitiakitanga’.
Rebecca Smith: “New Zealand is home to artists, inventors, and entrepreneurs who come up with original and bold solutions, while always caring for our people and our place,” says Smith.
“We’re innovators who are not afraid to challenge the status quo, and with our spirit of exploration, adventure and creativity, we turn big ideas into reality.”
The content is available to agencies and businesses to use within meetings, events and presentations to reinforce the unique way of thinking that sets New Zealanders apart.”
Young Ly, who features in the films, said: “New Zealanders are very adaptive problem-solvers, which is great in this crazy world when we face new things all the time. When you’re adaptive and have a can-do attitude you’re happy to try different solutions, you’re inventing to solve new problems.”
About Ingenious Together
The Ingenious Together films are the latest to launch in New Zealand Story’s Inside Stories series. Inside Stories feature interviews with famous and not so famous people, including actors, artists, CEOs, entrepreneurs, and innovators who share their perspective about New Zealand’s unique contribution to the world.
Inside Stories was created by New Zealand Story, who commissioned agency Many Minds and production company Reel Factory (under the direction of Felicity Morgan-Rhind) to produce the Inside Stories series.
The films will be used online across New Zealand Story channels, including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and will be supported by paid media in key markets to showcase New Zealand’s Ingenious way of thinking to a global business audience.
The films are also available to Government agencies and New Zealand export businesses who can use the content within business meetings, events and presentations where help is needed to reinforce the unique way of thinking that sets New Zealander’s apart.
CREDITS
Creative: Many Minds
Creative Director: Mike O’Sullivan
Director: Felicity Morgan-Rhind
Account Director: Natalie Robinson
Producer: Liz Garneau
Production: Reel Factory
Music: Tom McLeod
PR: Anthem
Media: Carat
Website: Isobar
Campaign Team: Rebecca Smith, Kellie Nathan, Rhys Lawrence, Charlotte White, Lynda
PR: Anthem
Account Director: Ashleigh Gilchrist
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