the bushfires - Letter from Melbourne

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21 FEBRUARY TO 6 APRIL 2009 VIEWPOINT SYDNEY PAIN, MELBOURNE GAIN! Tim Riches Tim Riches, Managing Director Tim has degrees in law and philosophy, with postgraduate qualifications in marketing and holds the position of Adjunct Professor to the Faculty of Design at Swinburne University in Melbourne and has undertaken strategic projects for …. Tourism Australia – Brand Australia, Austrade, Invest Australia, Cricket Australia, BHP Billiton, Baulderstone Hornibrook, GPT, Insurance Australia Group, National Australia Bank, Sensis (Yellow Pages), Coles Group, Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games, Origin Energy and the Royal Flying Doctor Service. FutureBrand Australia FutureBrand Australia is part of the InterPublic Group and is a full-service, global branding firm with a network of 24 offices in 15 countries. We develop and deliver brand strategy, brand identity and brand experience to enable our clients to think ahead of their markets and by doing so to stay ahead. www.futurebrand.com www.futurebrand.com.au FutureBrand’s Country Brand Index is an annual, comprehensive research study examining the importance of branding for countries, ranking them according to important economic and marketing factors. It provides a comprehensive assessment of country brand strength and taps into the continued debate about the relationship between business, tourism and national brand identity. It’s run by FutureBrand New York with input from offices, including Australia. It involves a global quantitative survey of 2700+ frequent travellers, a global expert panel which recruits from diverse regions and draws a range of statistics from relevant secondary sources with global reach. The dedicated website is www.countrybrandindex. com, For Australia, the study is especially relevant. Australia has been placed number 1 country brand for 3 years running, driven by a superior breadth and strength of positive associations: we’re famous for Outdoor Activities & Sports (number 1 globally), Natural Beauty (number 5), Friendly Locals (5), Family Friendly (4), Perceived Standard of Living (4)Beaches (5) and Nightlife (6). Amongst a range of other positive perceptions, these drive Australia to the top of the ranking in terms of brand preference. We’re also the place that more people say they’d like to live, and even extend a business trip, than any other country. Whilst this is a great achievement for which Tourism Australia, some movie stars, the Australian cricket and soccer teams, Home and Away, and the late Steve Irwin deserve some gratitude, rather than the usual criticism and cynicsim, the study doeshighlight some key issues. In terms of country marketing, the importance is in focusing on the right marketing problem to convert positive sentiment into economic value. This requires us to put aside our fixation on the next ad campaign (‘Where the bloody hell is it?’), because the ad campaigns are mainly about adding goodwill and positive feeling to an area that is already demonstrably full of these things. We need to focus instead on tapping that sentiment and convertihng it into visitation and dollars. It’s unreasonable to expect an advert to drive visitation when people already want to come. It’s just not really the right tool for the job. The right tool looks a lot more like www.viator. com (or similar), a website that blends advice, itineraries, user reviews and bookings into solutions to the “getting-to-a-place-that’s-a-longway-away” problem. We need to make it easier to come in terms of money, time and effort when all of these commodities are under pressure in our lives. On-line is the medium that can do this best yet no-one cares or comments that Tourism Australia just launched a new website… More locally, for Melbourne and Victoria, some interesting implications arise from the strong result for Australia in the CBI and the insights it offers. The key dynamic for Victorians is that Melbourne is, in lots of ways, at odds with Brand Australia. The global perception of the Australian lifestyle and experience is much closer to Sydney and Brisbane as cities. And while plenty of people internationally can identify Queensland as an entity, Victoria, like NSW, lacks a sense of identity or experience for mainstream offshore audiences. Appeal has always been more “targeted” therefore to international customers. This isn’t a bad thing in itself, as reaching the relevant market segments on-line is relatively efficient via a very active calendar of events and festivals Victoria and Melbourne’s success in terms of domestic tourism has, we’d argue, actually been driven quite specifically by the inconsistencies with Brand Australia overall. It’s exactly because Melbourne is a kind of “Europe Lite” that it competes so effectively for interstate visitors. Although Tourism Victoria is seen as an effective organisation of its kind, it’s not a new phenomenon, with roots traceable back to the gold rush era. Plus you can’t underestimate the power of being the second biggest city – it’s a natural destination for visitors from the biggest! In fact Melbourne and Victoria are a number of things that Sydney and most of the other States generally aren’t: culture oriented (relatively), European feeling, and in the case of Victoria, compact. And we’re proud of the “indoors” experience – we’ve even chosen to identify ourselves with branding based on books and jigsaws! The other key thing is that with the NSW Government currently a bit of a basket case, our premier city brand, Sydney, is less well placed to leverage the country brand strength, despite its natural assets and good fit with the overall country brand. Where else is there such a compelling mix of internationally recognised icons (such as the Harbour Bridge, the Opera House and the Museum of Contemporary Art) and stunning natural beauty, managed so badly, as Sydney? Historically, Sydney has failed to leverage its appeal on the major events front versus Melbourne, especially in terms of international profile. Really, the Grand Prix should be in Sydney – a much better fit in many ways! Although there is a Brand Sydney project in place, it will be interesting to see whether it encompasses the right scope in terms of establishing collaboration around planning, infrastructure, cultural programming and events, the sort of collaboration that seems to occur informally and more naturally in Melbourne – or is an exercise in communications spin… We have our suspiscions! 8
LETTER FROM MELBOURNE Adieu Melbourne Grammar Principal Paul Sheahan steps down on April 3, after fourteen years at one of Melbourne’s good schools. Fascinating The Victorian Auditor-General’s report into Literacy and Numeracy Achievement was released in February and provides an assessment of the trajectory of education in the state. Fascinating too The Victorian Parliament’s Public Accounts and Estimates Committee is conducting a review of findings and recommendations of a number of reports by the Victorian Auditor-General in 2007, including Improving our Schools: Monitoring and Support; and Funding and Delivery of Two Freeway Upgrade Projects. The closing date for submissions is Friday, 24 April, paec@parliament.vic.gov.au. People director RMIT University seeks an Executive Director- People, execsearch@jofisher.com.au. Swinburne University of Technology seeks a Director Alumni & Development, cv@sildak.com. Environment Conservation Pass the parcel Laws governing the clearing of native vegetation are under review as part of the Government’s response to the bushfire crisis, The Age reported. Ideas have included transferring responsibility for managing native vegetation in areas zoned for housing from the Department of Sustainability and Environment to the Department of Planning and Community Development. The Urban Development Institute of Australia’s Victorian executive director, Tony de Domenico, said changes to native vegetation laws must be considered in conjunction with new building rules for houses in bushfire prone areas. Doing nothing, do something Victoria’s climate policies will make no difference to achieving Australia’s greenhouse emissions targets and will simply subsidise big industrial polluters, according to a State Government assessment. A high-level ministerial brief advises the Brumby Government to rethink policies and programs, including subsidies for solar farms and panels and a shift to a hybrid car fleet, arguing that they will not contribute to any additional greenhouse gas cuts under Kevin Rudd’s proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, The Age reported. Prominent Fires in the Wilson’s Promontory National Park have burnt about 25 per cent of the 50,000 hectare park, with the park closed until late March for safety reasons, disrupting people’s camping and holiday plans. More fires Two fire fighters were injured and a house was destroyed in the blaze that threatened communities on Melbourne’s eastern fringe and continued to burn on 24 February. On the same day another large fire was threatening communities on the outskirts of the resort town of Daylesford in central Victoria, The Age reported. Uplifting Parks Victoria could soon start looking for a new company to run the Arthur Seat chair left in an effort to end the stalemate over safety issues with its operator. If the lease is terminated, Parks Victoria can seek expressions of interest from other operators, The Age reported. Good luck to the next guy. Dropping like bats The Melbourne Times reported that Friends of Bats Victoria spokeswoman Megan Davidson said more than 3,500 bats had perished, at least 20 per cent of the grey headed flying fox colony in Melbourne, in the heat wave in early February. Wildlife workers in the Department of sustainability and environment are planning a summit to discuss how further losses can be mitigated, www.wildlifevictoria.org.au. Interesting report The Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability’s (Ian McPhail’s) State of the Environment Summary Victoria 2008, has a 52-page colour summary publication covering all aspects of the Victorian environment including rainfall, marine life, pests, climate change, biodiversity, land use and even the atmosphere above us. The much longer report was launched in November: this is a reminder note. Tender is the environment Sustainability Victoria is seeking responses from service providers for the purpose of engaging with high consuming households who are willing and capable of acting on climate change. A pilot greenhouse program aims to reduce household consumption of energy, water and the production of waste, and respondents will be required to outline how they intend recruiting households, and how they will deliver a large number of tailored home sustainability assessments, www.tenders.vic.gov. au. Partly successful Earth Hour, an event which encourages people to turn off electrical appliances and lights for 60 minutes, occurred on March 28 at 8:30pm\, coinciding with busy Grand Prix people here in Melbourne and their restaurants. Good job The Country Fire Authority seeks a chief executive officer, www.kathleentownsend.com. au. Energy Riding the wave The Victorian Government is in talks with Western Australia’s Carnegie Corporation, to develop a $300m wave energy plant. The company wants to build a 50-mega watt demonstration plant— enough to power about 30,000 homes and looking at seabed sites near the power grid off western Victoria and also off Gippsland. Water Some good rain Before Saturday, 14 March, less than 23 millimetres had been recorded in Melbourne’s rain gauge this year, but heavy rains in much of southern Victoria on that day delivered another 20 millimetres (most of an inch) followed by light showers on Sunday, The Age reported. Revised water A revised water plan is being devised by Victoria’s senior water officials. Existing plans for the city to be off water restrictions by mid-2012 following the introduction of desalinated water are said to be shelved under the new timetable, which is due for public release in April. The revised five-year plan has been devised because of poor spring rainfall and the Government’s desire to extend the target 155 campaign, which urges each Melburnian to use less than 155 litres of water a day. Where fire and water interface Melbourne’s diminishing water supplies could suffer from fires as new, thirsty forests will grow in place of the older burnt out ones, with the young trees sucking up more water and reducing the run-off into reservoirs, possibly by up to half by the time trees are 20-30 years old. This scenario is such a serious threat to water supplies that the State Government and Melbourne water have a special fire strategy to try to protect the catchments including extra firefighters, air support and hundreds of kilometres of fire breaks. Three of Melbourne’s four most important reservoirs had fires in their catchments, with two of the catchments suffering significant damage. Melbourne water officials have warned that water collection in dams affected by the bushfires could fall by 30 per cent in the decades ahead, The Age reported. Money drought The Age reported that banking sources say the Wonthaggi desalination project faces a funding gap of between $1b and $2b. Some in the infrastructure industries say there is $300m to $500m available from banks for all major projects across the country. The shortfalls confront the Brumby and Rudd Governments with either finding money to bail out the controversial plan, along with many other projects across the country, or shelving it. Sourcing finance for big-ticket infrastructure projects is now a major dilemma arising from the 9
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