100% Pure slogan reaches milestone as tourism struggles

The successful 100% Pure New Zealand tourism marketing campaign will turn 10 years old this year, providing some cheer for an industry battling the economic downturn.

After a rocky start, the campaign that was rushed through in 1999 to meet the new millennium has become New Zealand’s longest-running tourism campaign and one of the longest-running global campaigns in the world.

In the last 10 years, the first ever global marketing campaign for New Zealand has claimed accolade after accolade, including helping win New Zealand the title of ‘Coolest country’ outside of the UK and Guardian and Observer (UK) ‘Best Long-Haul Destination’ in four separate years.

The campaign itself has taken out the Pacific Asia Tourism Association (PATA) Grand Award for marketing and placed New Zealand in the best 10 nation brands in the world (Anholt GMI Brand Index)

Tourism New Zealand chief executive George Hickton says the campaign has been resilient and is still applicable through all the external ‘shocks’ the world has thrown it.

“We’ve had September 11, SARs, global warming debates, but through all of this the 100% Pure New Zealand message is still applicable and relevant for New Zealand.

“And our brand awareness is so good in some markets that we can move on to other advertising that specifically targets our key audience’s needs like ‘What’s On’ in Australia and ‘What do you say UK?’ in the UK.

“It’s meant that we’ve been able to develop and build upon our investment, rather than spend money on reinventing and recreating new marketing work.”

The campaign has been able to be used for a wide variety of activity and promotions, such as the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the America’s Cup (before we lost it), and even the Chelsea Flower Show in London.

It has also featured on a giant rugby ball in Paris during the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

“It’s been revised and reviewed, tweaked and adapted, but it’s proven that it can rise to meet the challenges and opportunities the travel industry has faced over the last 10 years,” Mr Hickton says.

“This is a campaign that can work for New Zealand for a long time to come.”

In the last ten years, visitor arrivals to New Zealand have increased from 1.6 million a year to 2.4 million, while foreign exchange earnings went from $3.5 billion a year to $5.9 billion in that period.

Total user sessions on www.newzealand.com have gone from 1.4 million in 2002 to 10 million a year in 2008.