November 2009

In this newsletter:

Clyde's cognations

Study finds major events a major contributor to the Auckland Region

New website invaluable tool for Auckland businesses

Auckland’s Regional Screen Leadership Group getting down to business

RWC 2011 preparations gain momentum

Ten things to expect from successful world city marketing campaigns

Auckland region to play key role in food and beverage sector growth

Auckland University retains top 100 ranking

Yachting Developments built “Bristolian” wins international awards

Clyde's cognations

There’s a great deal going on in the region at the moment. The heat is rising as Auckland prepares for some of the world’s premium events including the Louis Vuiton World Series in March 2010 and the Rugby World Cup in September 2011. All eyes will be on our region as we show ourselves off to the world.  And, in the midst of all this activity, Auckland will transition to a single governance structure. Thanks to those of you who replied to our stakeholder survey. Your response was overwhelmingly positive, so thank you for letting us know that we’re largely on the right track. However, many of you asked to hear more about what we’re up to at AucklandPlus. So, over the next few newsletters I’d like to do that as well as share my impressions of some key activities that AucklandPlus is undertaking.

One such activity has been contributing to a significant piece of work, which investigated Auckland’s role in attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to New Zealand. That role was found to be quite significant with Auckland receiving the lion’s share (over 41 per cent) of FDI flowing into New Zealand. This compares favouribly with other centres such as Wellington and Christchurch receiving 12% and 7% of FDI respectively between 2003 and 2007. So how can we as a region make the most of that investment?

Love it or hate it, FDI is important to regional economy as it stimulates productivity growth, develops local capability and management skills, and facilitates knowledge and technology transfer in key industries. As foreign owned companies are generally larger than locally owned firms, they also tend to employ more people making them important for regional employment. The research confirmed that this is the case in Auckland with 24 per cent of all Aucklanders working for foreign-owned companies.

While the highest concentrations of FDI are currently in the sectors of business and financial services, retail and tourism, the opportunities for growth identified by the study lie outside of these areas. The maximum gains for Auckland and New Zealand from FDI, lie in productive (export promoting) sectors so for tangible long-term benefits Auckland should begin consciously attract more FDI in the productive sectors such as advanced manufacturing, ICT and biotechnology.

And the Auckland region is in a great position to do this. International benchmarking data on investment attractiveness shows that Auckland is well ranked in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals R&D, software and information technology, and multimedia and 3D visualization. The region also ranks well against competitor cities in ICT and food and beverage manufacturing.

The pick of the long-term growth opportunities for Auckland and New Zealand lie in knowledge-intensive sectors such as biotechnology, food and beverage innovation (especially higher value FMCG goods), creative and digital content, tourism, business services and materials-based manufacturing.

AucklandPlus is using the findings from the study to develop sector-specific investor attraction strategies as well as a strategy for Rugby World Cup 2011. Auckland's Regional Investment Strategy is also in development and will be available by the end of Quarter One next year.

Study finds major events a significant contributor to the Auckland Region

“Outstanding,” is how Michael Barnett, Chairman of the Auckland Region’s Economic Development Agency, AucklandPlus views the release of a study showing that major events contributed at least $479 million to the Auckland Region during 2008.

The study, commissioned by Auckland City Council and released last month, found that the 1,674 events held across the Auckland region in 2008 contributed at least $440 million to Auckland’s GDP and 7,227 full time equivalent jobs

“AucklandPlus has recently been promoting the massive opportunities that pursuing major events offers for Auckland and it is comforting to have research to reinforce that,” says Mr Barnett. “Not only does hosting major events drive tourism and investment, but they set firm timelines which act to catalyse infrastructure development projects providing benefits to Auckland residents and businesses long after the event has concluded.” 

The hosting of the opening and closing ceremonies for Rugby World Cup in 2011 has seen roading, rail and sporting infrastructure projects including the revamping of Eden Park and the development of Queens Wharf into public spaces and a new cruise ship terminal charging forward.

Using major events to promote community projects and economic growth has been successfully used by Glasgow (due to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games) as well as closer to home in both Brisbane and Melbourne where major events are a key driver of the cities’ economic growth plans.

The future for major event benefits is looking bright for Auckland with the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series which provided $16 million of additional output earlier this year returning to Auckland in March as part of an expanded Louis Vuitton World Series and Rugby World Cup, New Zealand’s largest ever global event, expected to contribute approximately $267 million into the New Zealand economy in 2011. Auckland is really looking to take its place as leading destination for major events and as the study shows, the benefits are considerable.

New website invaluable tool for Auckland businesses

Auckland businesses planning for growth now have access to a valuable tool to assist in the process. Knowledge Auckland (http://www.knowledgeauckland.org.nz/), a web-based repository for information specific to the Auckland region developed by the Auckland Regional Council, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise and the Department of Labour, went live last month.

A quick search on the new website reveals a wealth of Auckland-specific information; from economic and labour market trends through to how many litres of fuel were consumed in the region last month. 

“The website was developed in response to the lack of accessible Auckland-based statistics” explains Knowledge Auckland project leader Eva McLaren. “Those wanting to find statistics specific to Auckland needed to spend hours searching multitudes of different sources or commission expensive research to find what they need.

Knowledge Auckland has statistics on the Auckland region available free of charge in one central place making information easy for everyone to access.”

Access to the site is free and new statistics are uploaded to the site as soon as they become available.

“Information is a key part of any business planning process,”says AucklandPlus Group Manager, Clyde Rogers. “Having Auckland regional data and information available in one central place is invaluable to all businesses operating or looking to operate in the Auckland region”

Click here to visit the site and take a look through the information available. To ensure that the site responds to the needs of businesses we will be inviting you to make suggestions on how to improve the site later this month.

Auckland’s Regional Screen Leadership Group getting down to business

Despite what we see in theatres and gossip magazines, the global screen industry is serious business. And Auckland’s Regional Screen Leadership Group is all about the business of expanding one of the Auckland region’s fastest growing sectors.

Facilitated by AucklandPlus this group comprising representatives from Film Auckland, Auckland City Council, Rodney District Council, Waitakere Enterprise, NZTE, NZISI, AUT and University of Auckland will take advantage of Auckland’s wealth of local talent, technical expertise and spectacular scenery in order to propel the already flourishing industry even further.  And the timing couldn’t be better. With major events such as the Louis Vuitton World Series and Rugby World Cup hitting our shores in the next two years, the opportunity is ripe to direct the additional focus on our city towards this expanding local industry.

The reach of Auckland’s Screen and Digital industry stretches from Henderson Valley Studios in Waitakere to Kelly Park in Rodney via screen production businesses in the CBD, and ICT/digital technology companies around the city and on the North Shore. And with Auckland’s veritable Aladdin’s cave of shooting locations, it’s little wonder that Auckland contributed 74% percent of New Zealand’s screen industry revenue of $932 million in 2008. 

AucklandPlus is no stranger to the role of supporting actor. As an independent, yet key government agency AucklandPlus has a record of successfully bringing together expertise from a variety of different organisations to form and facilitate innovative leadership groups for the benefit of the Auckland Regional economy.

AucklandPlus has played a part in facilitating the delivery of the three year Screen MRI project which was concluded in June this year.  The Screen MRI project saw a marketing campaign showcasing the region championed by Film Auckland, and a brand new world-class 2000m² sound stage built at Henderson Valley Studios in Waitakere City, opened by Prime Minister Helen Clark in August 2007.

The newly formed Auckland Regional Screen Leadership Group will seek to develop long term strategies and action plans to secure the potential for growth in the Screen industry well into the future.

RWC 2011 preparations gain momentum

With less than two years to go before Rugby World Cup 2011 (RWC 2011) kicks off in Auckland, preparations for the tournament are stepping up a gear both in New Zealand and offshore.
 
The latest appearance of Tourism New Zealand’s giant rugby ball pavilion in Tokyo has put the spotlight on RWC 2011. The Ball’s opening event was covered by more than 100 Japanese media and TV coverage is estimated to have reached an audience of around 34 million. The Ball is in Tokyo to promote New Zealand as a place to visit, work and do business.

This was one of a number of New Zealand business and investment attraction activities taking place in Japan over the past week. And to follow up this offshore activity, both the Auckland region (through AucklandPlus) and the Government (through its recently launched NZ 2011 Office) have launched their business programmes and investment attraction strategies for RWC 2011.

With these strategies likely to include attracting a range of business people, board members and potential investors from overseas, it is worth noting that in the last week the tournament’s official travel agents have been announced. They were hosted in Auckland last week for a briefing on the region’s preparations and will be expected to sell a significant proportion of the ticket and hospitality packages available for the tournament.

On the subject of ticket sales, expect more information on tickets for the tournament very soon in preparation for the first ticket sales from early next year.

Two of Auckland’s big ticket items in its preparations for the tournament are the Eden Park redevelopment and transport upgrades. With Eden Park well and truly on schedule and within budget, attention is turning to transport and the question of whether Auckland’s transport system will be able to shift the big crowds to and from matches. Under the guidance of Australian event transport planning guru Bruce Barnard, the pieces of the transport puzzle are coming together. Morningside Station’s upgrade is already complete and work is due to start on the major upgrade of Kingsland Station in December. A Draft Regional Transport Strategy for RWC 2011 has already been completed. Last week the Airbus, which links the airport with the CBD, launched a 24/7 service with RWC 2011 in mind.

While Christmas is almost upon us, there will be no shortage of other RWC 2011 milestones between now and then. In mid December, Rugby New Zealand 2011 Ltd is scheduled to announce team training venues and where teams will be hosted. With training venues right around the Auckland region in the running this will be good news for the venues, their suppliers and local businesses.

For more on Auckland’s RWC 2011 preparations visit www.auckland2011.com.

Ten things to expect from successful world city marketing campaigns

Abridged from Greg Clark ’s presentation in September 2009.

In September, Brand Auckland turned one. And at that time we were fortunate to have international city-branding expert Greg Clark in town to review our progress and provide recommendations for the future. Below is a shortened version of the speech he presented to key brand advocates and businesspeople. They found his speech very valuable, so we would now like to share Greg’s thoughts with you all.

The Auckland brand is now one year old and progress has been impressive. The brand platform is well defined and is getting Auckland noticed. Congratulations must go to you all.

A brand should be something that you can look at, feel, smell and taste. It should have energy, purpose, passion as well as hints of sweat, blood, and sex. It should be a narrative, tell stories and spread messages and utilise traditional and innovative networks to do so.

The power of brands and identities and their contribution to city success are unmistakeable. We undertook a study into the ingredients of city success over the ten year timescale and the 100 year timescale. The power (and adaptability) of the city-region identity and brand came out as a cornerstone of longer-term success and is an important tool for the communication of other aspects of city success. Brands can make the essence and appeal more visible and tangible, they can accelerate successful investment, they can help you through a crisis and they can also leverage other brands and identities.

But what are the ingredients of a successful world city brand campaign? Following analysis of over a dozen big city brands, ten key ingredients emerge

1. Brand platforms. Cities have to build integrated brand platforms that work across sectors and across markets. They do not need to have separate brands for each market or sector.

2. Bidding or hosting world events.: The hosting of international events is an extremely effective way of reinforcing the global presence of a city through enhanced brand placement and exposure. The media interest in the event can give many years-worth of exposure within the space of a few months. For instance, Barcelona used the 1992 Olympic Games to announce its transformation to the world. Glasgow runs its marketing strategy alongside its events strategy to maximise potential benefits.

3. Co-ordinated action. It is important to embed the use of the brand within key stakeholders in the city. Competing brands cause a dilution and distortion effect which disrupts the brand’s impact. To maximise the impact of brand campaigns a critical mass must be reached where key players are responsible for the articulation and roll out of the brand. This requires multi-sector co-ordination.

4. Leveraging others sectors.  It is essential to look beyond traditional key players and to embed the brand further afield. Sectors beyond just Tourism, the Arts, Leisure, Trade and FDI should be embraced. Dynamic brand campaigns also look to Business Hubs, Higher Education, Science and Research as well as Technology.   

5. Leveraging other brands. Making the most of the city’s existing assets and brands is key to accelerating success. Madrid, Barcelona and London all do this well. For instance, Barcelona uses the global presence of Barcelona Football Club to catapult the city’s brand into the global arena and extend its reach. Auckland has the All Blacks and much more.

6. Brand families. The creation of brand families which see a master-brand supported by a series of sub-brands is an approach taken by cities such as Manchester and Singapore. As a result, there is simultaneously one powerful brand which is supplemented by brands which have been tailored to specific geographies, sectors and audiences. The key feature is that they are related and reinforce one another.

7. Commercialisation. Brands can be sold. It is a sign of genuine success to get businesses, visitors and residents to literally buy into a marketing campaign. This can be achieved in many ways which reinforce the brands presence. Glasgow, for instance, licenses the use of its ‘Scotland with Style’ brand to businesses whilst New York has managed to merchandise its brand.

8. Reputation management and recovery. As well as leveraging the good in a city, good brand management also involves the mitigation of the bad. The global economic crisis, for instance, has dented even the most confident of global city brands such as London and New York. Restoring internal of and external confidence in a city is a key component of brand strategies. Similar requirements for reputation and recovery management come following natural disasters, terrorist attacks or war time, for instance.  

9. Telling stories of past and future. Leveraging both past and present successes can ramp up the power of a brand. Historic events which still resonate are often overlooked when constructing a dynamic brand for a modern audience.

10. Multi-media. To extend the reach and penetration of marketing messages the use of technology is fundamental. There is room for innovation here. May cities now have their own TV station and even Airlines to reinforce city marketing success.

Huge progress has been made by brand Auckland in one year. You need to continue injecting confidence and intelligence into the way your do it. There is particular space for energy to be spent increasing the number of sectors involved in the brand management and promotion.

The constant goal should be to get Auckland’s story more widely told. The new city-wide Mayor may to lead the branding and promotion and plans should bare this in mind.

You have done a fantastic job so far! Keep going and if you can, do mission impossible and get New Zealand to love Auckland!

Auckland region to play key role in food and beverage sector growth

Auckland’s location as a distribution hub and the availability of key skills and supporting industries cements Auckland as a significant player in the food and beverage sector according to a report released last month. 

A major part of Auckland’s economy, the food and beverage sector contributed $4.71 billion in to Auckland’s GDP last year, and provided for 11 per cent of employment in the region. A lack of public and industry understanding of the role and contribution of the food and beverage sector to the Auckland region prompted the Auckland Regional Council to commission the ‘Food and Beverages Sector Competitiveness Report’ in order to identify opportunities for the sector to add value to region in the future.

Auckland was found to be particularly strong in the manufacturing stages of the food and beverage sector with manufacturing and processing being identified as the main area for future growth and value for the region due to some advantages distinct to the region. Location next to 35 per cent of New Zealand’s population as well as strong distribution channels such as the port, airport and motorway South make Auckland a major hub for distribution to the rest of New Zealand and worldwide. A skilled workforce and larger labour market backed by strong research institutions also made Auckland an attractive location. Finally the proximity of complementary activities such as packaging, machinery suppliers and engineers mean that manufacturers have support nearby.

The report found that in terms of employment and output, traditional agriculture such as sheep and beef farming has been in decline in recent years,  although horticulture has remained strong in the more rural parts of the Auckland region.

The availability of a suitably qualified workforce and the ability of small and medium sized businesses to adequately resource the more technically demanding aspects of the manufacturing process were identified as the main challenges to growth in the sector.

The proposed Food Innovation Centre, a project led by Tony Nowell and representitives of the New Zealand food and beverage industry, in association with AucklandPlus and the Ministry of Economic Development, Enterprising Manukau and Massey University, was highlighted by the report as the most significant initiative currently underway in the region. The proposed centre will sit within a national food and beverage network and looks to provide leading edge product commercialisation facilities currently out of reach of most small to medium sized enterprises. Such a facility will fill the gap between product design and the actual commercial development of branded, fast moving consumer goods ready for local and international supermarket shelves.

Auckland, the report concluded, held a “necessarily strong role” in the future of the food and beverage sector’s future due to the dominance in the areas of innovation, high value products, functional foods and international connections.

Auckland University retains top 100 ranking

The University of Auckland continues to be among the top 100 universities in the world, according to the 2009 world university rankings published by the Times Higher Education - QS World University Rankings.

In fact, the University is moving in the right direction increasing its position on the prestigious list to 61st, from 65th last year

“This University has a strategy focused on achieving excellence rather than simply getting larger. These latest rankings reflect our standing among our international peers, and also highlight the many teaching and research achievements of our staff and the esteem in which they are held,” said the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Stuart McCutcheon.

In three subject rankings, the University was placed in the top 50 in the world: Arts & Humanities 42nd; Life Sciences & Biomedicine 40th; and Social Sciences 37th. It was also placed 55th in Engineering & IT, and 83rd in Natural Sciences.

In the important rankings assigned by academic peers and employers, the University was ranked 38th and 40th respectively.

“This international recognition of one of our education and research institutes further cements Auckland’s reputation as a research and development hub” says Business Capabilities Manager, Susan Milner.

“It helps the rest of the world to recognise the capabilities that the Auckland region has as a business and investment destination brimming with capable talent and infrastructure.”

The University of Auckland was the only New Zealand university to be ranked in the top 100.

Yachting Developments built “Bristolian” wins international awards

It has been an award-winning month for Auckland based Yachting Developments Limited.
 
The Yachting Developments built “Bristolian” was judged “Best Sail” 24 – 40m by the International Superyacht Society at this year's Ft Lauderdale International Boat Show.
 
Bristolian also won the coveted Showboats International “Best Sailing Yacht Interior” award.
 
During the presentation ceremony at Ft Lauderdale, Yachting Developments’ Managing Director Ian Cook, described Bristolian as, “An absolute team effort from Designers through to apprentices.  Bristolian is a very advanced vessel and it is great to see others agree.”

“With the Louis Vuitton World Series and Auckland International Boat Show next March seeing a real focus on the Auckland Marine sector, it’s fantastic to have the innovation and craftsmanship of the Auckland Marine Industry internationally recognised,” says AucklandPlus Marine Sector Project Manager, Katie Taylor.

The marine industry is an important contributor to New Zealand’s economy generating an annual income of $2.2 billion per annum, of which 58% is generated within the Auckland region.*

^{* Beca Auckland Marine Feasibility Study - June 2009}