New Australian brand on the way

NATIONAL branding promoting Australia’s “clean and green” image could be on exports as soon as next year.

Australian Trade Minister Steve Ciobo.

NATIONAL branding promoting Australia’s “clean and green” image could be on exports as soon as next year.

The Federal Government has committed to creating a new Aussie brand — which could be used for all sectors from agriculture, tourism to services — as part of its foreign policy White Paper.

The move has been welcomed by industry, which has touted the need for a “Brand Australia” for several years.

Trade Minister Steven Ciobo told The Weekly Times a national brand could be “extremely effective”, pointing to the success of overseas branding exercises such as New Zealand’s “100% Pure” campaign.

The branding would also help protect Aussie exports from “those who’d be happy to trash our reputation” through fraudulent products.

“Australia has an excellent reputation for providing clean and green products, and we can both promote it and safeguard it through a national brand,” he said.

Mr Ciobo anticipated the brand could be ready to go next year. Austrade has already begun work researching three existing brands, including the green and gold “Australian Made” kangaroo logo.

“It depends how much work has to be done, whether the existing brands capture what we’re after or if we need something new,” he said.

Mr Ciobo and Austrade have already consulted with the Australia Sino One Hundred Year Agricultural and Food Safety Partnership (ASA100), which has long pushed for a unified brand and whose own brand concept will be among those tested.

ASA100 co-chairs Andrew Forrest and Jennifer Westacott — chair of Minderoo Group and chief executive of the Business Council of Australia respectively — said unified branding would “cement our reputation as the world’s most reliable supplier of safe premium agricultural food products”.

“This will be a game changer for Australia’s ageing agriculture sector,” Mr Forrest said.