$35m identity crisis strikes Australia

Australia's perennial quest for a national identity has taken on a new urgency, with the Government launching a $35.8 million quest for a revamped international image.

One thing is certain: no one wants a repetition of the disastrous tourism campaign of a few years ago which asked overseas visitors: "So where the bloody hell are you?"

The benchmark, as Australians grudgingly admit, is New Zealand's hugely successful "100 per cent Pure" campaign.

Indeed, one Sydneysider suggested that "Better than New Zealand" should be Australia's new marketing slogan. He explained: "We're better than New Zealand. Better beaches, better surf and bigger Outback."

The Government, however, wants to rebrand Australia in a way that goes beyond sun, surf, sport, "gidday mate" and unusual wildlife. So, there will be no return to 1980s-style ads and promises by Paul Hogan to "slip another shrimp on the barbie for yer".

The aim, according to Trade Minister Simon Crean, is to highlight "our creativity, our ingenuity, our innovation, our spirit of social inclusion and ... the quality of our goods and services". He wants to promote Australia not only as a holiday destination, but as a place to live, invest, do business and acquire an education.

"We're challenging and calling for the best creative minds in the country to come forward," he told ABC radio. "What we've got to have is a better way to define our identity and brand it."

One example that ad agencies will almost certainly not be encouraged to follow is a new television campaign by Tourism Queensland that turns the Monkees' song "Hey, hey, we're the Monkees" into "Hey, hey, we're in Queensland".

Queenslanders condemned it as an embarrassment yesterday, with one wondering if state Premier Anna Bligh had "lost her bananas".

Another is Tourism Australia's now notorious "So where the bloody hell are you?" campaign in 2006, which was fronted by the model Lara Bingle and was banned in several countries, including, for a while, Britain.

Last year Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, described that particular marketing exercise as a "rolled-gold disaster".

But repitching Australia and its varied attributes to the rest of the world will be no simple task.

Chris Brown, chief executive of the Tourism and Transport Forum, said: "We have a physicality that defies belief, in terms of desert to snow to rainforest to beaches to big cities. We produce everything you can imagine, from fine wine to iron ore, highest levels of education down to Billabong boardshorts. How do you put all of that together in one little logo or ad?"

Talking of logos, what will Australia come up with to compete with the silver fern? No prizes for the correct answer: Crean says it will look no further than the trusty kangaroo.