Brand Australia

Recently the Australian Government launched a $20 million tender to reposition the country as a tourist destination with a new advertising campaign, but Australia as a popular destination for international students is under threat following recent overnight closures of private, 'shonky' VET providers and alleged violence against Indian students. So bad is the situation that international students took to the streets across the country last week in protest. So what does this mean for Australia's image and who is responsible for communicating our country's reputation - whether to overseas tourists or prospective students?

Dr Peter Kell from the Hong Kong Institute of Education said in Campus Review last week that all this is a bad advertisement for "Brand Australia" and says many private and public providers are ill-equipped and inexperienced to deliver international education.

I would argue against such broad statements and ask why the link between how we market Australia as a tourist destination and how we market Australia as a study destination has not, so far as I can see, yet been made.

What seems unfair, for international students and quality VET providers, is that somehow the news that public providers, such as TAFE (that provide education that meets the Australian Quality Training Framework), who deliver guaranteed high quality vocational training doesn't reach the overseas students...? Perhaps they are simply lured by cheaper and faster qualifications and if so, is it appropriate to tarnish the rest with the ails of the few?

I guess any effort to repair a damaged reputation is a job for a clever brand strategist - maybe even an issues management practitioner - and believe me if I could come up with the answer I'd provide a two-for-one solution to Australia's global tourism and international education reputation and cash in the 20 million myself.

Is Michael Jackson alive - viral media would have you think so

This week German broadcaster RTL conducted an interesting experiment about the power of social media and celebrity. The broadcaster posted an anonymous fake video on YouTube which showed Michael Jackson appearing to emerge from the back of a coroner's van in an underground car park. The video - only posted for one day - received 880,000 hits and has quickly become an online viral phenomena. The SMH today printed a story by the Associated Press that says hoaxes and rumours commonly spread like wildfire on the internet and the rise of Twitter - dubbed by some academics as social media in real time - has quickened the pace. This example, along with that of Chaser the squirrel from Banff, Canada, illustrates just how quickly information, false or truthful, can spread when coupled with celebrity.