Finding a successor to 'City of Sails'

By IRENE CHAPPLE

Auckland needs a makeover, say two major reports, but the city may be stuck with its threadbare image for a while yet.

Any rebranding project could depend on private money, given that the public sector is unlikely to give the idea solid financial backing.

A successful city brand, say academics, can increase productivity, attract tourists and pull in investors' dollars. New York's "Big Apple" slogan, for example, is a merchandiser's heaven, and Wellington City Council says its Absolutely Positively Wellington tag has become a valuable economic asset.

Although it is impossible to quantify a good brand's contribution to a city, a professional creative job - estimated cost $500,000 to $800,000 - would pay for itself in a few years, according to one international branding valuer.

For now though, Auckland's City of Sails tag, created almost 20 years ago and since adopted by Tourism Auckland, continues to limp on as the sales pitch to the outside world.

Criticisms that it hardly describes the Auckland of today remain unanswered, while other ideas - think Auckland City Council's "First City of the Pacific", or the Auckland Festival's "Auckland A" - have sunk into oblivion.

Two reports that have investigated the Auckland region's health are LEK Consulting's "Strategies for Building a Talented Nation" and, more recently, the Auckland Regional Development Strategy (AREDS).

The Government-commissioned LEK report looked at Auckland's image as part of the effort to attract talented people to New Zealand.

The AREDS report, collated after consulting community and business representatives, covers seven councils, from Franklin to Rodney, and was approved this week.

Both reports flirted with a revamp of Auckland's image as part of a wider economic push. The LEK recommendations included a public relations campaign to establish the city's image as an attractive place to live. It also pointed out the financial constraints Tourism Auckland faces if it wants to compete with the per capita expenditure of Wellington or New South Wales, concluding that its budget would need to go from $2 million to about $10 million.

LEK Consulting's Joanne Keestra argues that that sort of money should come from both regional and national sources.

But while both reports encourage some sort of makeover, they say economic growth will drive a new brand's creation, as opposed to a brand that packages the city and is used to promote growth.

Keestra says LEK "was suggesting a PR campaign - ensuring that ongoing positive 'good news' messages about Auckland are carried in the media, particularly in Australia".

She cites a 30-page spread by Vogue Australia, which called New Zealanders "cerebral, thoughtful, friendly and creative people with beautiful quirky homes, enviable art collections and great clothes".

Such coverage, argues Keestra, is preferable to leaping into a branding exercise, with the dangers that poses.

"Aucklanders need to make a strong, emotional connection with the brand, otherwise they could undermine any expectations set by advertising because they don't believe in the brand ... or even worse [they could] feel disengaged or hostile."

The AREDS report worries there is "no single owner promoting the Auckland region as a great place to live, work and do business".

And while it suggests development of a regional brand, the chairman of the group that produced AREDS, Peter Menzies, wants that to follow a solid economic push.

AREDS' initial focus, says Menzies, is "developing Auckland's economy so it is able to compete internationally. We've got to have strong growth occurring in the economy which will in turn give a brand a reality."

He says it "could be quite early in the process that a brand will emerge that suits what Auckland is. Something will emerge from the dynamic growth."

Keestra says Aucklanders - and New Zealanders in general - must support and believe in the brand for it to work. "Anything gimmicky, like Auckland A, is unlikely to succeed."

She is one of many who bring up "Auckland A" as an example of branding gone bad. Commissioned by the Auckland Festival last year and created - complete with hand signals - by former Saatchi & Saatchi head Mike Hutcheson, the idea was rapidly panned.

Among other problems, the suggested hand signs looked altogether too similar to the sign-language symbol for Aids.

Auckland's scathing rejection of the slogan is now frequently cited as an example of why such a project cannot be rushed.

Branding people say capturing the city's essence and working it into a brand would take months of work and hundreds of thousands of dollars.

It would then need to be taken on by Aucklanders and used consistently in domestic and international advertising.

Meanwhile, the City of Sails image lives on.

The line was created by tourism consultant and marketer Gordon Campbell, on the basis that Auckland had one the highest numbers of boats per head in the world. It was then used by the Sheraton Hotel, before being picked up by the city council.

Two decades on, the slogan still has some heavyweight supporters, including Auckland Mayor John Banks and Tourism Auckland.

Banks is adamant no council money will go into rebranding. "I don't want to spend any time or ratepayers' money worrying about silly slogans.

"I'm not unhappy about City of Sails ... I'm interested in moving Auckland forward with the big issues. City of Sails will do me fine."

Tourism Auckland leans heavily on the slogan when promoting the city overseas, but chief executive Graeme Osborne concedes that a review "would not be harmful".

The problem is, the City of Sails logo has built up international recognition, something Tourism Auckland would be loath to lose and cannot afford to replace.

In February, the city council played with officially adopting the City of Sails slogan and logo - and then dropped the idea when it realised the cost of slapping the new brand on everything from the city crockery to the office stationery.

And - as Banks suggests - cost is a constant obstacle. Councillor Scott Milne, chairman of the recreation and events committee, says of branding: "It's not seen as a priority. It's very difficult to get ratepayers to see it as value for money - and the media queries it."

But, he says, "the city is going to have to look at the way it presents itself. We are growing up and will have to get a new set of clothes."

One solution is private sector finance, an idea supported by Chamber of Commerce head Michael Barnett and proven by the Absolutely Positively Wellington experience.

Wellington's branding exercise is constantly lauded as a successful example of image-changing.

The slogan was not created for Wellington City. Saatchi & Saatchi came up with the tag in the late 1980s for a Wellington Newspapers campaign. Newly formed Tourism Wellington rejected the brand when it was offered, but after the city increased its focus on promotion it selected Saatchi & Saatchi's idea.

In Auckland, Barnett says a new brand is overdue, arguing that the City of Sails tagline is "a little selective".

"Auckland 20 years ago may have been a harbour and Eden Park - now, it's much more diverse. If you look at how we have grown it identifies us with one destination and one activity. Auckland is much more than that."

"If we could get buy-in I would be prepared to put resources into it. All you need is a Barry or a John or a Bob to say this is a good idea ."