Australia’s new international branding revealed
Vivienne Kelly
The imagery which will be used to promote Australia as a ‘brand’ to international markets has been revealed.
Australia’s National Brand Advisory Council has put the recommendation to the Government that Australia not focus on kangaroos as it would “simply reinforce what people already knew about us”. Instead, the Council’s preference is for the new Nation Brand mark to be an abstract wattle. The Council conceded the wattle is “not immediately recognisable internationally”, but said it would become so overtime.
The Nation Brand project was created to unify Australia’s various trading brands and imagery in international markets in a bid to “inspire the world to buy into Australia’s people, place and product”.
Thus far, the Council said, Australia has been inconsistent with its use of logos, colours and narratives, which have diluted the country’s brand offering and confused potential audiences.
“The Nation Brand Promise articulates the key reasons why people will choose Australia, which builds on existing positive assumptions,” the report said.
The recommended brand mark “Balances a literal and abstract interpretation of a wattle flower,” the report to Government said. It was designed by Clemenger BBDO Sydney.
“It’s an optimistic burst of gold positivity. Co-created with our Indigenous design partners Balarinji, the mark is embedded with a cultural richness and graphic voice that speaks distinctly of Australia,” it added.
“The contemporary, pan-Indigenous design is a unique symbol that depicts recognisably ubiquitous and timeless Aboriginal art elements – dots of irregular shape and placement, their spontaneous circular distribution following radiating lines and clustered configurations.”
The new branding is, the report said, “elegantly and undoubtedly Australian”.
If it’s adopted, Australia’s international marketing efforts, to attract people to invest, study, work and visit the country, will have greater cut-through, the report said.
