Making a mark
It is this concentration of premium quality and expertise that Brand Tasmania wishes to package and promote under a place-of-origin brand. A conglomerate of public and private sector advocates, Brand Tasmania’s mission is to make it easier for people to discover Tasmania, says Heazlewood. “Our research has shown that Tasmania, when selling internationally, is not well known, but that people want the story of Tasmania. We create a positive perception of Tasmania emphasising the freshness and taste of our food and the innovation of our people.”
Brand Tasmania helps exporters by providing critical mass support, bringing together Tasmanian businesses under one banner to strengthen the overall brand. This includes exhibiting domestically and overseas together and providing master imagery to increase recognition of Tasmania as a mark of quality.
The state government also helps with everything from grants, market information and access—which includes facilitating contact with potential partners—through to missions and an inward buyer program bringing potential buyers and influencers into the state. George Chambers, deputy general manager of Export and Investment Marketing at Tasmania’s Department of Economic Development and Tourism, says their grants program helps smaller businesses with export expenses where Austrade’s federally run Export Market Development Grants (EMDG) scheme cannot.
“Unlike EMDG, the Export Marketing Assistance Scheme has no threshold requirements,” he says. “There are some criteria, such as the product or service coming from Tasmania, and there are some limits on the amounts we’ll give for activities like travel, for example, but we find a lot of small companies come to us because they don’t spend anywhere near the amount required for EMDG.”
The grant is for businesses turning over less than $20 million a year and provides funds up to $10,000, though Chambers says the average claim is $3,500.
Another popular government-run initiative is a series of workshops for new and existing exporters addressing everything from export practices to branding and risk mitigation.
As for the future, Travers says the Tasmanian export landscape has already started to change for the better in many ways: “The nature of the Tasmanian economy is that in recent history we’ve underperformed but we’re turning that around. Tasmania now commands niches of premium.”
Trade links
BizTas: www.biztas.com
Brand Tasmania: www.brandtasmania.com
Department of Economic Development and Tourism: www.development.tas.gov.au/export
Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry: www.tcci.com.au
