Top 10 for New Zealand

nzedge.com is commencing a series of “Top 10s” from New Zealanders who will offer their ideas, forecasts, strategies and projections for New Zealand 2007-2010 and beyond.

Initiating the series is John Williams, former owner of the Marton company PEC (New Zealand) Ltd, which was internationally respected as the world's first organization to design and market microprocessor-based petrol pumps and service station POS terminals. John is a passionate advocate for an inclusive export-based vision for New Zealand. John has presented his vision and strategy to all senior politicians over the past decade.

We will invite all readers of this blog to create their own Top 10 for New Zealand and send them to us brian@nzedge.com

John William's Top 10 Strategies for New Zealand (see full text):

1. Maximise growth in the sectors where we currently produce world-class products and/or services. The growth sectors, which have already chosen themselves by their success in export are: Tourism, Dairying, Food & Beverage, Information Technology/ Communications/Software, Education, Bio-technology and Niche Sectors (which would include Film, SuperYachts and Forestry).

2. Ensure that at least 25,000 New Zealanders (net) return annually to settle in New Zealand and play a vital role in growing an export-led sustainable growth economy.

3. Increase exports by making New Zealand organizations aware that if they are successfully marketing their products in this country they must be world-class and therefore have significant export potential; and by introducing support programmes to assist organizations to maximise their exports

4. Introduce the “Kiwi Can” programme to all Primary and Intermediate schools to reverse the continuous drop in values that has occurred in the past 50 years.

5. Re-create the University of New Zealand to compete with the much larger and significantly better resourced US, European and Asian universities.

6. Market New Zealand as “Innovative New Zealand” to increase exports. New Zealanders are among the most entrepreneurial and innovative people in the world.

7. Ensure that the contribution to economic growth from the Maori and Pacific Island ethnic groups (50% of New Zealand’s population by 2050) is significantly and continuously increased.

8. Demonstrate the amazing innovation of New Zealanders by creating a newzealandinnovation.com website, which would detail all our world-class products, services, and ideas.

9. Establish a “Centre of Excellence” for Innovation and Entrepreneurship whose role would be to provide world-class product development, marketing and intellectual property protection advice.

10. Create and widely publicise a “Vision” for New Zealand: “To ensure New Zealand’s future as one of the world’s most socially cohesive, prosperous, and innovative countries, which is sustained by a dynamic, wealth creating, export economy.”

For the full text of John's Top 10, see http://www.nzedge.com/features/john_williams_top10.html

Risk Rd, by Ohinerau St, Greenlane, Auckland. Photo: Sweeney

New Zealand Visibility in the USA

One of the reasons Scandinavian countries have been much more successful economically than New Zealand is their creation of great global brands. Nokia. Volvo. Ikea. Absolut. Saab. Ericsson. Abba. Lego. Bang & Olufsen. These countries have many parallels to New Zealand in terms of population size and distance to market, yet they could be described as idea-driven countries. New Zealand has shown many ways in which it can be world-changing, but this seems an individualistic occurrence rather than a result of any national determination or encouragement. "Winning the World from the Edge" is not yet tattooed on our foreheads.

Domestically, we are principally lifestyle-seekers, content rather than competitive (except for sport, where we are glorious.) With inspirational leadership by individuals and institutions, we can break out of this mental rut. Many are doing it; many more are needed. I was driving through New Jersey on US Memorial Day a week ago and spotted this Fisher & Paykel distribution center. “Yoh,” I thought, “more of this please!” New Zealand touchpoints are steadily emergent in the USA. At a birthday party tonight at the Russian Tea Room on 57th St the sommelier had an intimate knowledge of New Zealand wine, and his dream vacation is mapped around the vineyards of Central Otago and Malborough. My local liquor store, Kesslers on 28 St, has a very well presented Whitehaven Pinot Noir. All the wine stores in Manhattan have good to excellent nz wine (though not yet the signage, we're usually slotted unmarked somewhere between Chile, South Africa and Australia).

Food & Beverage is a big way to go. Two weeks ago 42 Below won the top print award at the US Clios for a Saatchi & Saatchi New York-created campaign (NYNZ at work again). Public, the Gordon/Hansen/ Farmerie creation on Grand St is the best public face for New Zealand food and wine you could hope for. Nelson Blue is a gastro-pub just opened in lower Manhattan at the Seaport. Down Under Bakery Pies, Brooklyn, is what it says. Josh Emmett is the Chef de Cuisine at Gordon Ramsay's London on 54th St. On the West Coast, at Costa Mesa, Noel Turner welcomes Californians to his acclaimed Turner New Zealand restaurant. A decade ago in San Francisco I invited a team of journalists who had been covering the State of the World Forum to The Moa Room, a beautiful restaurant run by a chef from Gisborne Jan Gardner.

Design-led companies (as per the Scandinavian way) have strong opportunities in the USA, as Bendon, Icebreaker, Karen Walker, Trelise Cooper and many are showing in Fashion & Apparel. Rebecca Taylor, Wellington/NY fashion designer-come international star, has her store in Mott St in lower Manhattan's Nolita. Phil&Ted's sports buggies and baby transporters are about the city. Architect and long–time NYNZer David Howell featured on the front page of Sunday's New York Times' avidly-read real estate section. Smart digital/web/search/mobile companies like Hyperfactory (with six international locations) and FirstLightERA have operations in New York. Film is an obvious but that's another discussion.

Export is the only economic imperative we have. New Zealand companies of every shape and size need to ask the question: "how can I fill the world?" As both a push and a pull strategy, New Zealand desperately needs street presence in global markets; touchpoints; first moments of truth; pop-up stores; retail stores; cafes and restaurants; exhibitions and trade shows; "out of home" advertising; a stream of it. Even a billboard at LAX would be a start. I started my career in 1980 as a showbusiness entrepreneur - seven years of producing, selling and popularizing NZ, Australian and international artists who mostly no-one had previously experienced or heard of. Street visibility was everything - and in America, the only nation of scale that is culturally simpatico in many ways with New Zealand - we have a cloak of invisibility. Profile that we have is serendipitous, random, sporadic and/or accidental.

Basically put, there is no above-the-line marketing of New Zealand in America at all. Some 100%Pure activity, but like a dress on a rack, just one of a gazillion ads. We need much more volume. The billboards at LAX (and SF and JFK) are no joking matter, if only as a two-thumbs-up to nz exporters heading into vastness of America to sell. Most people travelling through airports are influencers in some way or other. Market visibility starts at airports, and it's a case of fanning out from there.

If the Minister of Finance is concerned about the inflationary pressures of spending too much of the Government surplus domestically, then there is no better place to spend it than overseas. This is Export Year/Decade, and in-market, on-the-street visibility is essential for building the vibe/ perception/ preference/ attractors for New Zealand in meta, macro and micro ways. It's basic business technique to promote, and New Zealand is incredibly underpromoted in a rational, methodical brand marketing way. It's more than a question of funding, it's one of basic economic development.

The Labour Government did absolutely the right thing when it first came into office by raising arts funding, which had been perennially starved at less than $10 mil a year, to about $70 mil, and we are a more creative country for this. The same magic wand needs to apply to our export marketing effort. Trade & Enterprise's Better By Design program is an excellent example of the programs that exist; I'm talking about the programs that don't yet exist. An integrated and backed-up US$50 mil spent advertising New Zealand in the world's business and consumer media would deliver a billion dollar return. 4 points to finish:

1. I heard an idea in May to do a reality-TV program on export, which I said was terrific and should be made. Call it "Extreme Export." Close-up on the language, adventure and cursing that occurs when negotiating international situations. Education is a critical factor in building an export culture, and seeing how it's done in-yer-face is essential for getting follow-on.

2. There needs to be a meeting about NZ international brand marketing, or a bunch of video stories from exporters who are cutting/working/linking their NZ/world relationships. Knowing the language, seeing the tactics, the interrogation of the detail, the micro-management of these situations, could direct a generation whose only fix on export is leaving the country. The TED/7X7 format would be ideal, Ben Kepes from Waipara wrote me about invoking these formats in order to get stories/actions flowing. I didn't know what to answer him at the time, but I do now: the theme is "Extreme Export" - stories about achievements/ideas about selling nz-created stuff globally. You could mix the wisdom of some of the former DairyBoard's legendary traders with the chutzpah of BroTown's Elizabeth Mitchell. And so on. Call the meet/series Swarm.

3. NZ's greatest export is its people, and our relationship with our overseas multitude is at best embryonic. Victoria University did a great thing last week or so, and awarded an Honorary Doctorate to Wade Thompson, founder of Thor Industries, a VUW graduate who created the world's largest recreation vehicle and the largest manufacturer of mid-sized buses in the US (85 models). The Jackson Ohio company has 9,000 employees in 29 plants in North America and sales of US$3 billion+. Thor grew principally through acquisition, including the iconic Airstream which is now in the Museum of Modern Art's design section. There is a great story/myth heard 14th hand about a breakthrough Airstream achieved; during a delayed launch of a critical NASA space flight from Cape Canaveral the camera and commentators needed something to talk about, and their attention wandered to a beautiful caravan in the edge of the picture, and they waxed about its shape and classic lines and utility...and thus America experienced a new idea. Sometimes luck is on your side. Cheers Wade Thompson.

4. New Zealand Export can mean many things today, and we should explore and celebrate every one of them. In toto, to me it means connectedness and international value-creation wherever New Zealanders are, home and away. In indigenous nz showbiz in the 1980s the phrase "internationally-acclaimed" was a sure-fire winner, and in 2007 we should be acclaiming our international salespeople and dealmakers. Banish murder, drunkenness and other lousy behaviors from our front pages (start a "Page 13" for all the nasty stuff) and tag-along with the extreme exporters for inspirational stories. Purpose follows passion.

All from one drive-by photo. Thanks Fisher & Paykel. I have several of your appliances, the short-cycle dishwasher at Raumati being the best.

68 degrees in NYC and a 40% chance of rain tomorrow.

Doing Business in the USA

Stories from the Export Frontlines
New Zealand Export Decade 2007-2017 is well underway, initiated by the Government’s Export Year. Clearly a year is not enough to transform the country’s insular economy into one that earns the majority of its income from international sales in all forms. China has succeeded with 10 year planning. New Zealand must also commit to long-termism.

We have many outstanding exporters, big and small, all with the ability to grow because of the uniqueness and excellence of their product or service innovation. Many many more internationally-minded companies are needed, with a few really big breakthroughs desired. Ideas about export models are growing, including:

• What is made in NZ and what is actioned offshore
• The role of our creative and design edge
• The need for brand marketing of the country (which, excepting tourism, is largely non-existent, although a NZTE ad in the Australian Bulletin’s 22 May feature on NZ (“Tasman Tiger”) proposes that “If you’re looking for new thinking, look across the ditch”).

A key element in developing an international-looking culture in New Zealand is hearing from those people who are already doing it. As always, it comes back to people and stories. In early 2007 Kea Network and New Zealand Trade & Enterprise produced an excellent forum in New York with five international New Zealand companies, offering candid accounts of the challenges, insights and practicalities of doing business in the USA.

150 guests attended the forum at Saatchi & Saatchi’s Worldwide HQ at 375 Hudson St, moderated by NZTE's Beachheads Chair Bridget Liddell of Antipodean Capital, with speakers:

• Mark Eglinton of Tenon USA (wood construction products)
• Matt Williams of Glidepath (baggage-handling systems)
• Victoria Vandagriff of Bendon (lingerie)
• Stuart Gray of Methven (showers, taps), and
• Jane Vesty of SweeneyVestyUSA (communications)

Exclusively on the Kea website are nine podcasts of each speaker and the Q&A, each 4-9 minutes long, and each 2MB. They are fantastic to listen to…people and stories…each voice is unique.

Topics/themes/advice covered:

• Doing it the best
• Having purpose, attitude and big ideas
• Refining your uniqueness
• Proximity to consumers to gain insights
• Being committed for the long haul
• Having a sound business plan
• Having a maverick spirit
• The role of good timing and good luck
• Surviving your mistakes
• Revisiting and revising your strategy
• Checking, tuning and refining before expanding
• Doing it step-by-step, having patience
• Establishing trust, credibility, reputation
• Being observant about US cultural characteristics
• Finding, making, managing and exiting partnerships
• Having the financial resources to survive initially
• Conforming to rules, regulations, laws, protocols
• Integration of NZ and US operations
• How to weave in the New Zealand story
• The importance of design innovation
• Hiring experts – lawyers, accountants, IT
• Outsourcing, supply chains, sales infrastructures
• Insurance, health, visas, credit, ID theft
• Social protocols, seasons, conversations

The Q&A podcasts cover:

• Using "New Zealandness" to your advantage
• What Americans find surprising about New Zealanders
• Working with conservatism in America

Event sponsors were New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, Saatchi & Saatchi, Crossroads Winery Hawkes Bay, Spy Valley Wines Marlborough, Lion Nathan, Methven, SweeneyVesty, Bendon, Icebreaker and Oxygen Lightworks.

Posted from New York City.