Decade of purity

The 100 per cent pure New Zealand campaign is celebrating a decade in business and a decade promoting the “essence” of this country. Well, if New Zealanders can do it then why not the Australians, asks The Age. Australia is still talking about it while others such as New Zealand, South Korea, India, South Africa and Wales are forging ahead in the nation-brand stakes. The head of New Zealand’s tourism industry association, Tim Cossar, a passionate believer in the Pure branding, says government is interested in taking it “to the next level” and to get “better alignment” between all of those sectors that are marketing New Zealand products and services abroad. The beauty of “Pure” lies in the fact that it never attempted to describe everything, but rather it just tried to capture the essence of New Zealand. The 100 per cent logo could be hitched to a landscape, place, emotion or feeling. This week, Steinlager Pure, replaced Castlemaine XXXX as brewer Lion Nathan’s main export to British pubs. To borrow the memorable line from Castlemaine’s ads, Australians most definitely would give a XXXX for a brand as recognisable as their smaller neighbour’s.