BOOSTING NEW ZEALAND.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16494, 3 August 1921, Page 2

BOOSTING NEW ZEALAND.

A MARKET FOR BRITISH GOODS,

An interview With Air Frank Goldberg, of the well-known advertieiryg agency in Christchurch and Wellington, recently appeared in a London publication, “Advertising World.” “ l have come over here to tell British business and advertising men alxmt New Zealand, to explain to them the magnitude of the market, th© wealth of the people, even if comparatively few in number—in short, to show them what a splendid opening the country offers for the right kind of goods,” said Mr Goldberg. “New Zealanders like British goods, but those who would supply the goods must understand what th© people want.”

Air Goldberg cam© to England via the United States, and about the end of July will return by the same route. This has enabled him to get a very useful impression of conditions in the States, and it may interest our readers t/p know that ho thinks business conditions worse there than they are in this country, apart from the coal strike, for America is badlv overstocked with goods, he says, and is anxious to unload them at almost any price. Admitting that New Zealand is suffering now from something of a reaction after the great prosperity of the war and. immediate post-war period, Air Goldberg thinks it will soon recover by reason, of the inherent wealth of its natural resources. “ There is a constant and growing demand for all tho produce of the country, and the highest -prices in the best markets are always assured her. New Zealand is peopled by a highly intelligent, well educated and progressive race. They Fire- ajnong the finest specimens of virile civilisation in the Empire to-day. Keen, alert, intelligent, with a wonderful producing* country behind them, they are a race with whom trading possibilities are almost unlimited. The New Zealander is always ready to spend his money on anything that interests him. and the country provides opportunities of very great magnitude to the wide-awake manufacturer. It is an ideal place for marketing a useful product. “ But, while the country is so prosperous and offers such a fine market, I do want to impress on British exporters and advertising agents that they must go to work in the right way if thev want‘to find in the Dominion the fullest market for their goods. It is very largely to impress that fact that I lmv© com© over here. I have com© to talk of media as well as of markets, to impress that th© copy must be written in the right way if it is to be effective. Since T have been over here I have seen a lot of copy prepared on quite the wrong lines, copy, for instance, to* be inserted in the Now Zealand winter season as though it were the summer season, forgetful that our winter is your Bummer.

“ I want to ram home the fact, ko often impressed 'in the “Advertising World,” that the copy should bo written by the man who knows tho market, bv tho man who understands local conditions. Also the agent on the spot will know whether the article is suited to the rarket.

“There is another thing I want to impress on agents and advertisers who seem strangely slow to realise the fact. It is that' the' general British idea that what is suited for Australia is suited for New Zealand is wholly wrong. Copy intended for Australia is oil it© unsuited for New Zealand. People m Great Britain forget that the two countries are separated . bv 1200 miles of water, and that the steamer journey from New Zealand is four arid a hall days to the nearest Australian port. You cannot treat. New Zealand as a country which an Australian, agept can cover in a week-end trip. It takes three months properly to travel through the Dominion. “ Then I want to impress on Britishers that, though the population is small, the buying power -pen liead is as great as in any part of the world, save the United States. The people ax© very well off. and have money to spend. Ihe imports to New Zealand for the first eleven months of 1020 totalled £63 557.000. equal to £4G 16s per head. The total trade for the eleven months was £BB,OOO. .000.’ Referring to his personal impressions of Great Britain. Mr Goldberg said that while mil business men complained that just now business was dead, he found them willm- to listen to any business proposition, I he v ''ere anxious to extend business But he did roeret that thev .were often so difficult to approach, and so conservative in their outlook. It was not so m the United States.