Rt. Hon Helen Clark

11/07/2007
Rugby ball venue launch
Click for a larger version
Address at launch of rugby ball venue. Made at Parliament

New Zealand is a country increasingly known for smart thinking and creativity.

The project we are announcing today is a good example of that.

In short – what you about to see is about taking New Zealand to the rest of the world.

It is about using a major international event to profile New Zealand – our innovation and technology, our scenery, our cities and our culture - in an imaginative way which captures attention.

In early October, a temporary structure will go up on the Champs de Mars in front of one of the world’s most recognisable landmarks - the Eiffel Tower. There, the New Zealand Rugby Ball Venue will stand.

This project is a bold and innovative promotion. It is a sign of New Zealand’s new thinking, and it portrays a small country out to make a big impression.

Just as we have successfully leveraged off Lord of the Rings, America's Cup regattas, and the high profile of Team New Zealand to lift our tourism and trade profile, so we will mount a similar programme alongside the Rugby World Cup in France as our All Blacks compete.

Brands like Team New Zealand, the All Blacks and 100% Pure are big assets for New Zealand and they remind international audiences of our small and geographically remote country which excels at many things.

The large oval rugby ball structure is 12 metres high and 25 metres long. It is able to accommodate up to 220 guests.

Its interior walls will have an audio-visual function. They will be lined with screens, which, will display images of New Zealand to reflect our scenery, our innovation, and creativity, our business talents and our culture.

New Zealand images and branding will also be projected onto the exterior of the ball.

The venue will be open throughout the last two weeks phase of the Rugby World Cup in France, closing on 21 October, the day after the Rugby World Cup final.

During the day, the Rugby Ball will be open to the public, promoting New Zealand tourism, trade, culture, and lifestyle, food, wine, and technology.

In the evenings, it will become the hub for New Zealand-hosted events, exhibitions, big screen viewing, functions and meetings, taking the best of NZ Inc. to the world.

The venue is able to host corporate functions, public exhibitions, and promote New Zealand culture.

NZTE will use the venue to raise the profile of New Zealand business, and build relationships across specific sectors (for example, biotechnology and food and beverage) and between individual companies.

NZTE will work with Tourism New Zealand and MFAT to promote New Zealand jointly at events in the venue timed around the major All Black games in the last two weeks of the Cup.

The focus for the business sector will be on bringing together key contacts in different sectors with New Zealand companies, in an environment which presents the best of New Zealand.

Over 40,000 people are expected to experience a virtual New Zealand by visiting the Rugby Ball while it is in Paris, but many more will pass by - last year, 6.7 million people visited the Eiffel Tower.

Building this structure, in this place, at this time is a unique opportunity for New Zealand.

The location offers an unsurpassed and powerful site to showcase our country to a big international audience in a way we could never hope to achieve through traditional communication channels.

Visitors to the venue will be entertained by musicians and performers, promoting New Zealand’s vibrant cultural scene.

Securing this internationally significant location is a coup for New Zealand, and we are very grateful to the Mayor of Paris for allowing us to undertake this ambitious project.

This relocatable venue will continue to attract attention after the Rugby World Cup in France, as it will be available to follow the All Blacks to key venues where the team will play between 2008 and 2011.

The project is a collaborative, cross-government initiative involving Tourism New Zealand, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, the Department of Labour, and the Ministry of Culture and Heritage.

The principal contractor is an outstanding example of New Zealand innovation, Mike Mizrahi and his team at Inside Out Productions.

This project is an integral part of a four-year strategy being drawn up by various agencies to maximise the benefits for New Zealand when we host the Rugby World Cup in 2011.

The venue is the first step in building cultural, business and sporting links which will last well beyond 2011.

We know from past experience that the benefits of hosting a world-class event are ongoing and flow through to a huge range of sectors across the economy.

The Lions’ rugby tour alone brought well over 20,000 (20,400) extra visitors to New Zealand, and they spent an estimated $130 million during their time here.

Hosting the America’s Cup in 2003 injected an estimated $529 million into the economy, and also resulted in wider benefits to industry sectors including tourism, hospitality, boat building and hi-tech marine supplies.

The importance to New Zealand of hosting the Rugby World Cup cannot be underestimated.

This event will propel New Zealand into the homes of millions of people around the world and bring tens of thousands more visitors to our shores.

When Australia hosted the 2003 Rugby World Cup, television coverage was estimated to have reached an audience of over 3.4 billion people in 200 countries.

The Labour-led Government is committed to New Zealand’s economic transformation and building a stronger sense of national identity.

This Rugby Ball venue project will demonstrate to an international audience that New Zealand is indeed a land of talented and innovative people prepared to promote its people, and its products and services to the world in imaginative ways.

ENDS

© Scoop Media