PETER BIGGS: Chief executive, Clemenger BBDO Melbourne; former Wellington adman

‘ITURN again to simplicity. I turn to purity.’’ With these words, Genghis – the greatest of the khans – captured the essence of successful marketing – and why the 100% Pure campaign has worked so powerfully: Develop a compelling positioning which you can own and substantiate; express and magnify it with utter precision and simplicity; execute it with accuracy; remain ruthlessly consistent; keep it constantly fresh and relevant. It’s amazing how so many brands get this wrong. 100% Pure is not one of them.

Remarkably, the 100% Pure campaign has been running since 1999 and, for that, I take my hat off to the marketing team at Tourism New Zealand. It is a temptation for many marketers with a long-running campaign to change it. You see it happen time and again.

Organisations get bored with campaigns long before consumers do. As well, it’s always very tempting for a new chief marketing officer to make their mark early the easy way – either change the existing marketing campaign and/or change their advertising agency. It takes guts and humility to stay with a campaign which works.

The only time you should change something is when it’s broken or outlived its usefulness. 100% Pure is neither.

When it began, the campaign captured a human truth – that is, the majority of people around the world do see New Zealand as far away and – because of that – untouched. The campaign has also cleverly evolved with time – 100% Pure has expanded beyond an environmental positioning to offer Pure Adventure, Pure Experiences, Pure Food, Pure Sport which, again, capture contemporary New Zealand: A country of extraordinary intensity, an intimate place geographically which also offers visitors an unmatched range of experiences.

All the great brands exploit a tension because tensions capture consumer interest. 100% Pure creates a clever tension between intimacy and expansiveness and this set of opposites sparks curiosity and creates talkability – something very few brands, playing in a worldwide space, manage to do.

As Kiwis, we have to be provocative and intelligent when it comes to promoting ourselves and our country because, let’s face it, New Zealand doesn’t have the massive advertising budgets which other nations and economies possess. In the 21st century, the New Zealand approach is the way to go – we live in an ‘‘attention economy’’ where consumers are the media channel, co-creating and passing on brand content. So, when it comes to cuttingedge marketing campaigns, which all seek to drive ‘‘earned’’ media – as opposed to ‘‘bought’’ or ‘‘owned’’ media, scale and weight are being replaced with speed and agility. And the 100% Pure campaign is perfectly designed for velocity and manoeuvrability.

And it works. There is no doubt it has created a point of difference for New Zealand; it brings in the visitors; and it gets them to spend their money.

100% Pure New Zealand – live long and prosper.