Steve Irwin and the brand Australia
September 5th, 2006I don’t think most people here in Australia know exactly how big Steve Irwin was overseas. Or the influence he had over the brand “Australia”.
He told a story of Australia that people wanted to hear; a beautiful, wild, dangerous place full of 5 meter crocs, snakes spiders and sharks. Never mind the fact that 90% of us live in urban centres more akin to San Francisco than the wild west…He told the story of the fearless man who would struggle with the wild animals but never hurt them.
I read a recent story that illustrated how well he understood the power of this branding; a group of people up north (where the crocs live) proposed to introduce big game safari’s; i.e. overseas visitors coming here and shoot crocs and other wild life for $15k a pop.
He invited a very senior member of the adminstration for a weekend away in the bush and explained that this would destroy the brand Australia overseas and significantly impact tourism in its wake.(The one he helped build).
Tourism is one of Australia’s most important industries. It accounts for 5.7 per cent of total employment, contributes $73 billion to consumption per annum and is worth more than 11 per cent of total exports. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Big game hunting never went ahead and I doubt it ever will now.
