Industry leaders to overhaul nation’s overseas image

Overseas nations have low opinion of Australian culture, intellect — and it’s our own fault, Andrew Forrest says.

The advisory council is chaired by mining leader Andrew Forrest. Picture: Colin Murty

A high-calibre advisory council working to boost Australia’s image overseas — to counter an apparently low opinion of our culture and intellect, as well as doubts about safety — has pointed to “a nation of contradictions” as it moves to unite people behind a new identity.

Backed by $10 million in federal funding, and with the advice of consultants and market researchers, the council is leading a four-year effort to develop Australia’s new “nation brand” and make the country perform better on the ­global stage.

It is an attempt to move on from the fragmented, competing interests of the federation, and legacy issues, to create a “Team Australia” with an unmistakeable “rally cry”. If successful, it is expected to not only boost Australia’s reputation but also the education, tourism, investment and export industries, potentially even the national mood, ­according to some advisers. Advertising agency Clemenger BBDO was given a $3.3m contract in January to develop “a brand concept and creative ­execution so good it makes the world sit up and listen”. But to get to this point, the ­advisory council has had to ­acknowledge the gap between how Australians perceive their country and how it is perceived by the rest of the world. There is good, bad, and, even among Australians, contradictions.

“We think we are young, yet we have one of the oldest indigenous people and cultures; we love to win, but hate winners — we like the underdog, observe the tall-poppy syndrome; we recognise our colonial past, yet are anti-­Establishment and like to challenge authority,” state the minutes of the council’s first meeting at Parliament House last year. “There’s a certain resiliency and toughness around Australians that exhibits in many industries, e.g. our dancers jump higher, turn quicker. (But we) often seek external, overseas, validation ­before we achieve domestic recognition.”

The council is chaired by mining leader Andrew Forrest, who is recorded telling the first meeting that “research shows Australia ranks well in physical beauty, ­enjoyability and lifestyle, but poorly on culture, innovation and technology”.

“We need to do better,” Mr Forrest told fellow council members, including Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce, Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes, Coopers Brewery chairman Glenn Cooper and Sydney Festival artistic director Wesley Enoch.

It is not the first time those strengths and weaknesses have been pointed out. But, on several global rankings, Australia now risks falling out of the top-10 countries, in areas that make our export education and tourism sectors particularly vulnerable.

“Australia’s poor rankings on culture, innovation and technology are to some degree a self-­inflicted problem,” Mr Forrest told The Weekend Australian.

“For better or worse, we have done an excellent job promoting our great physical and lifestyle ­attributes, while failing to translate other parts of our story to the world. Australians invented Wi-Fi, have some of the world’s leading companies and brands, and our creative industries are highly influential and productive. We have a bigger story to tell and we need to get better at doing it.”

In 2014, after a $20m, four-year promotional campaign, Austrade identified some lingering concerns, including that perceptions of public safety in Australia had declined in India, South Korea and Indonesia, potentially deterring students and tourists. China ranked Australia in its top-10 countries across all attributes ­except culture (13th), while separate research has hinted at racism concerns and questions over Australia’s contribution to the global good. China, India, Indonesia, Japan and South Korea will be the focus of the new nation brand, along with Britain and the US, which are also considered Australia’s competitors in most markets.

Government-funded research showed a need to move beyond promoting lifestyle and affordability factors and focus on outcomes, such as improving Australia’s education credentials and research output, which were perceived in some markets to be a weakness.

A Deloitte paper, produced for the council in November, showed Australia was 11th on the Brand ­Finance nations index. The consultants estimated that even a one-point improvement, lifting Aust­ralia into 10th, would be worth an extra $3.1 billion in merchandise exports, $704m in foreign direct ­investment, $174m in tourism and $137m in education every year.

“During recent times, case studies such as Singapore’s ‘Passion made Possible’ and the United Kingdom’s ‘GREAT Campaign’ demonstrated the positive impact of investing in nation branding, lifting their respective rankings and creating tangible investment outcomes,” Deloitte concluded.

The council has also discussed the success of the “100% Pure New Zealand” brand.

The final brief given to the four companies that pitched for the creative contract clearly wanted them to reassure international doubters.

Australia should be depicted as “an internationally competitive investment destination, a great place to visit, a quality provider of education, a trusted exporter of premium-quality goods and services, a global citizen and business partner”.

Whatever Clemenger BBDO comes up with will need to drive a broader change agenda to ensure the new image is not just a mask.

“It must be an idea so good it unites Australia across all industries, states and territories like never before,” the brief stated.