Kiwis set up camp in New York

Johnathan Osborne, left, and Paul Shale of Consortium also plan to open offices in Los Angeles and London. Picture / Dean Purcell

A New Zealand advertising voice is piping up in New York - with a slight American twang.

Consortium, best known for its off-the-wall campaign for vodka maker 42 Below, has opened a New York office to support New Zealand businesses breaking into the American market.

It's a bold move for the company and one that industry figures say breaks the mould for New Zealand advertising companies expanding overseas.

Consortium chief executive officer Paul Shale says New Zealand exporters can have difficulty finding sales and marketing support overseas and end up shuffling from company to company in an "exporter's dance".

Instead of becoming the smallest client on a multinational's books, New Zealand exporters can now be represented by a New Zealand advertising company overseas, says Shale.

The New York office is an extension of Consortium's base office and its staff, now numbering two, will work on campaigns directly with the team in Auckland. Extra offices are also planned for Los Angeles and London.

Auckland University of Technology's advertising programme leader Paul White says the expansion is unusual because New Zealand advertising companies tend to link up with multinationals rather than go it alone overseas.

"I'm not aware that any New Zealand [advertising] company has ever opened offices overseas that has not already been part of some network."

He says the company's forthright style and support of homegrown companies stand it in good stead for the development.

To succeed, New Zealand companies have to stand out as being from New Zealand, not try to be American, he says.

"If you're a Kiwi, you've got real clout, you know, it's interesting and it's different and it's new," says White.

"You can easily disappear into the sea, and it's a big sea."

Consortium's first client in New York is tapware company Methven, also a client of its Auckland office.

The Methven campaign in America, due to kick off next week, is similar to its campaign in New Zealand but slightly tweaked.

"Good ideas travel anywhere in the world, they are global," says Shale. "What you need to do is put an accent on that idea."

American brochures for Methven's Satinjet shower head still aim to appeal to women, not male plumbers, but to appease the more conservative American sensibilities the cover image will be changed to one that appeared inside the New Zealand brochure.

The cover image on the American brochure is of a woman's shoulder. In New Zealand it is of her upper thigh.

Consortium's director of business development Johnathan Osborne is an American and helped to translate the concept. "In America, Kiwis tend to be seen as quirky and a bit intimidating. But in reality, they're misunderstood," he says.

The idea of Consortium's New York office is getting traction, says Shale, with two more Auckland clients close to signing on.

Consortium aims to continue building its brands domestically while becoming a global company focused on New Zealand export growth.

Its annual billings are under $25 million but the company tends to run creative, rather than costly, campaigns, says Shale.

His catch phrase is "business growth through creativity" and he pointed to the 42 Below viral strategy, involving an emailed movie, as an example of how to "get famous on a shoestring".

Consortium launched about three years ago and lists Auckland University of Technology, Sony and Abe's Real Bagels among its clients.