KEY POINTS:
Tourism went all hip and trendy yesterday with the re-launch of the 100 per cent Pure New Zealand campaign.
Tourism New Zealand chief executive George Hickton unveiled the new-look adverts - focused on New Zealand as the youngest country on earth - at the Tourism Industry Conference in Auckland.
"With New Zealand being the last country on earth to be settled, we believe people can come here and experience life as it should be," Hickton said. "This is a unique selling point for New Zealand and our youth sums up what visitors experience when they come here."
The new adverts gave more depth to the meaning of 100 per cent Pure, he said.
"It does enrich it, it does say there's a reason to - it just hasn't had people on it for that long."
The campaign will include television, cinema, internet, cellphones and billboards but less print media.
"One of the main changes will be to embrace new technology and to provide content to people when they want it, where they want it, how they want it," Hickton said. "We see that offshore there's a lot more use of moving screens and obviously downloadables ... we can provide a good message in that environment because it's moving and we can show some pretty exciting things about New Zealand, and we do think that's the way the world's moving and we want to keep up with it."
The state-funded marketing body had also joined up with Wellington-based Weta Digital to produce an animation of the tale of Maui hauling the North Island from the sea.
"The animation is breathtaking and it brings to life one of New Zealand's oldest stories using some of its greatest talent and youngest technology."
