The international "tiki tour" of the Whangarei-made giant air-supported rugby ball venue is delivering in spades for New Zealand and for the makers, Fabric Structure Systems Ltd of Lower Dent St.
FSS co-owner Warwick Bell says the ball has done wonders to expand people's thinking about the potential for "cheeky" air-supported structures and boost international awareness of FSS' capability, as well
as making millions of people aware of the location of the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
Tourism New Zealand took a daring punt and committed $4.6 million to having the ball made and taking it to the 2007 Rugby World Cup finals in Paris to publicise New Zealand as the event's next host. The
money also covers re-erecting and operating the ball as a venue in London in 2008, Tokyo in 2009, and Sydney and Melbourne in 2011.
The 25m long, 13m high ball holds up to 220 people.
By day it's a ground-breaking "full immersion" movie theatre with a 10-minute audiovisual show screeninga variety of New Zealand environments from ocean depths to volcanoes, bush walks, beaches and rugby games (the design and execution of this is a world first).
By night it becomes an up-market corporate venue with catering by top New Zealand chefs.
Thousands of Japanese had visited by the end of the ball's six-day stint in Tokyo which ended on November 3, queuing in their hundreds from the moment it was put in place under the Tokyo Tower. Eight performers from award-winning kapa haka group Te Arawa entertained visitors as they waited to go into the ball and became a drawcard in their own right. The ball was booked out for night meetings between Japanese
corporate groups and New Zealand trade groups like the Winegrowers' Association; hits on Tourism New Zealand's Japanese consumer website tripled to 4000 a day after the ball venue opened; and the opening by Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism John Key was covered by 100 journalists from Japan's 11 national television stations, 11 national newspapers and more than 40 websites. The television coverage was viewed
by an estimated audience of 34 million. The newspapers involved have a readership of 30 million.
Warwick Bell says it was the first time an air-supported structure had been erected in Japan. "There's no legislation to cover it, they don't know anything about them so it was quite simply, illegal. The hoops we had to jump through to get there were absolutely incredible," he said.
Tourism New Zealand had also taken a bit of flak as a government agency for committing $4.6 million to something so "outside the square" but he said having seen the reaction overseas "this is one of the best promotions a nation has ever done and an incredible investment for New Zealand".
The cost included everything from construction to accommodation at the various sites, air-fares, cuisine and wages for performers, caterers, electricians and engineers.
He says it is a bit of shame that New Zealanders probably don't realise just how much publicity the ball has generated overseas and may see it as an expensive gimmick. "I hope this changes over the next couple of years, especially when the ball is taken to New Zealand locations in the run up to the world cup games," he said.
"Australia Tourism has great admiration for this project I can tell you."
One of the best things for Fabric Structure Systems was that "this cheeky, crazy thing has loosened up thinking internationally about the capabilities of air-supported structures".
"We do edgy, edgy stuff and we want thinking loosened up on this. Everything we build is one-off. We have skilled people who do world-class work and there's no text-book for what they do."
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