David Downs, CEO of NZ Story. Photo / Dean Purcell
The world has changed since Covid hit and so has the world's perception of New Zealand, says NZ Story chief executive David Downs.
Downs, who has just returned from visiting the New Zealand pavilion at Expo 2020 in Dubai, says the reopening of the world offers both a challenge and an opportunity.
"We've done research and I can tell you that the perception of New Zealand has definitely been impacted by Covid ... largely for the positive," he says.
"Most countries around the world see New Zealand as having a top-class Covid response, but there's a few warning bells in there."
NZ Story is a government-owned marketing organisation, jointly funded by six agencies including Tourism NZ and NZ Trade & Enterprise.
"The idea is that we are the agency that brands New Zealand in the world," Downs says.
"The individual agencies all have their own focus, whether that's tourism or exports or education."
"They have their own thing to do but what's the overarching story? Why are we important in the world? We tell that story to the world."
NZ Story also licenses and manages the FernMark and does one-on-one work for Kiwi tech and innovation companies.
There's some crossover with Downs' other role as chair of The Icehouse business incubator.
And since his high-profile battle with cancer, he also dedicates a lot of time to working with cancer charities.
In January 2017 Downs was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and, after multiple rounds of chemotherapy failed, given nine to 12 months to live.
But he beat the odds after being accepted into an experimental CAR T-cell therapy trial run by Harvard University in the US.
"I'm doing well," he says when asked about his health. "The reason I do this job is because of that experience.
"Going through life-changing events, you think about what's important.
"In my head I've got this Venn diagram of things I like doing, things that I'm actually good at and things that are useful and make a difference."
For the former comedian, telling and selling New Zealand's story fits the bill.
NZ Story conducts research in 10 international markets (Australia, USA, UK, Japan, China, Germany, UAE, India, Brazil and Singapore) every quarter, surveying around 400 people in each country.
"The latest research was telling us that we need to reconnect with the world," Downs says.
"It's almost like the perception of what success looks like has changed.
"A year ago success was: you've dealt with the health crisis really well. Now the perception is more driven by the way you're reconnecting, how well you are adjusting to this new world order."
New Zealand's reputation holds up well for its people and culture, its goods and services and traditional things such as beautiful landscape - but perceptions have slipped in regard to the New Zealand business environment.
"All of them are high," Downs says. "New Zealand is disproportionately positively perceived.
"But then you do get these warning bells. Some countries - Germany, UAE and Japan in particular - where there's some comments saying: how quickly are you re-opening for business, it's great that you've looked after your people but are you getting back to normal sometime soon?"
That's why it's crucial for New Zealand business to get back out into the world and make itself heard, he says.
"The danger you've got, and I saw it in Dubai, is if we weren't there, people wouldn't notice we weren't there.
"Everyone has had their crazy Covid time and everyone's got their own challenges. The danger is that they lose sight of us and we become a bit irrelevant."
The research has shown that the "number 8 wire" mentality might be a great story at home in New Zealand but that's not how they see us around the world, he says.
"That's our view of ourselves. And it's important to have a more specific understanding than just a global view."
New Zealand invested significantly in the pavilion at Expo 2020, spending $62 million to showcase the country.
Designed by New Zealand architects Jasmax, the pavilion was open from October 2021 through to the end of March this year (the whole Expo was delayed more than a year by Covid).
"It provided an important opportunity to showcase us to the world, particularly while the borders have been shut and we haven't been able to welcome people here," Downs says.
"So at least there's been a little bit of New Zealand out in the world."
About 1.2 million visitors went through the pavilion.
"The key theme was this idea of care for people and place," Downs says. It was built around the traditional Māori values of kaitiakitanga (guardianship and protection) and manaakitanga (hospitality and extending compassion).
"These are concepts that are quite universal but are expressed really well in Māori culture," Downs says.
The pavilion experience was structured around a journey along the Whanganui River - "we avoided the hobbits this time around," says Downs.
"Lord of the Rings has done a great job to put New Zealand on the world stage but what we need to do now is expand people's perceptions."
And its not just about tourism, Downs says.
"We definitely want tourists back to New Zealand, don't get me wrong. But we also need our businesses out there in the world and creating value.
"We know we'll get much more leverage in the long run with our top technology sector, agriculture sector offering IP to the world, not just services."
So the involvement at Expo was really about showcasing the totality of New Zealand.
"For example, a lot of people didn't realise we had a space industry, they maybe heard that we had a rocket that went up once," he says, referring to the Rocket Lab story.
NZ Story also plays a practical role in helping companies sell themselves to the world.
It creates marketing resources - like photography and video and graphics - for New Zealand exporters .
"We're free," Downs says. "There's an online tool kit."
Downs says the feedback he's getting from New Zealand exporters is mixed right now.
"There's two reactions going on at the moment," he says. "One is excitement, really wanting to get back out there in the world. You can do business over Zoom but you can't really form the relationships over video conferencing.
"They want to get out in the world and experience it. They know that the world's moved."
But on the other hand there is also some concern about the challenge, he says.
"So excitement mixed with a bit of trepidation.
"Supply lines are constrained, it's very hard to get staff, there's probably a bit of concern that as we open up the borders we're going to see a lot of people moving around and it's going to be quite uncertain for some time yet."
Downs says he's keen for exporters and potential exporters to get in touch.
"We're doing a lot of outreach at the moment," he says. "Post-Covid, New Zealand business has lost a lot of the muscle memory around international marketing.
"Kiwis are wonderfully humble but actually sometimes that doesn't wash, so we want to teach people how to get a bit more pep in their step and a bit more haka into it, otherwise you under-sell the country."
The Government has committed funding to the sector in an effort to support future plans.