TOURISM Minister Richard Colbeck will lead the push for a single international "Australia" brand to sell everything from package holidays and international education to beef exports to the rest of the world as local industries attempt to capitalise on significant trade deals with China, Japan and Korea.
New Zealand has used its "100% Pure New Zealand" brand since 1999 in all its international marketing work so successfully that its spin-offs, "100% pure relaxation", "100% pure adrenalin" and "100% Middle-earth" - celebrating the series of JRR Tolkien films - were recognisably associated with New Zealand as a destination.
Senator Colbeck, who has inherited tourism, international education and assisting Trade Minister Andrew Robb under the Turnbull ministerial reshuffle, has championed a single national brand since he chaired a Senate inquiry into Australia's food processing industry in 2012.
However, he was loath to mention the success of New Zealand, one of Australia's major competitors, as part of the inspiration for a single Australia brand.
"I really didn't want to mention it and give them [the Kiwis] a plug but a single national brand really does work," Senator Colbeck told The Australian Financial Review.
"I've been thinking about it from an agriculture and food perspective but it also applies across other sectors as well."
Tourism Australia, the government's agency responsible for attracting international visitors, has experimented with many marketing campaigns including the current "there's nothing like Australia" slogan and the notorious "So where the bloody hell are you?" campaign by Treasurer Scott Morrison, who was then boss of Tourism Australia.
Mr Morrison eventually lost his job after the controversial ad starring a bikini-clad Lara Bingle but the campaign was voted by the advertising industry as one of the top 30 Australian commercials of all time.
The challenge will be to come up with a similarly memorable Australian brand to extend beyond tourism to other export industries.
Senator Colbeck cited the new "True Aussie" proprietary brand, owned by the National Farmers' Federation and Meat and Livestock Australia, as a potential starting point that could be expanded to include other Australian good and services.
"True Aussie" was launched in 2014 to market beef, lamb and goat to international markets - particularly in China, Europe and the United States - to promote Australian agriculture's clean, green and natural image.
He acknowledged it would be a tough process to come up with a single Australian brand that could appeal to a range of international demographic groups, from Western backpackers looking for an adventure holiday to Chinese shoppers looking for healthy food.
"Yes, it's a lot of frogs to keep in the wheelbarrow," Senator Colbeck said.
Mining magnate Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang have also developed the ASA100 brand - a name which is shorthand for the Australia Sino One Hundred Year Agricultural and Food Safety Partnership - which includes 50 food and agribusiness representatives from each country to give China "unsurpassed access" to Australia's highest-quality agricultural produce.
