A new symbol of New Zealand’s commitment to equality, diversity, and support for LGBTQI rights has been created transforming the iconic trademarked New Zealand Government Silver Fern into the ‘Rainbow FernMark’.
Developed by the New Zealand Story Group, in collaboration with MFAT, the ‘Rainbow FernMark’ is being launched as part of our first global campaign, ‘Proud Together’.
The 'Proud Together’ campaign is a toolkit of content including speech notes and key messages, videos, imagery, and marketing collateral designed to promote New Zealand’s values as a tolerant, progressive, and inclusive society. The campaign content is to be used by New Zealand government agencies to share our amazing stories globally, grow awareness and consideration for New Zealand while also supporting our global public diplomacy efforts around diversity and inclusion.
The campaign has already been used by MFAT at pride festivals across the globe from Seoul, Korea to Honolulu, Hawaii.
The more our amazing New Zealand stories are shared both at home and offshore the greater the impact they will have to build New Zealand’s global reputation. To find out more about the ‘Proud Together’ campaign and the launch of the ‘Rainbow FernMark’ visit nzstory.govt.nz. To show your support for this campaign using the hashtags #ProudTogether and #NZStoryteller on social media.
A REPUTATION FOR DOING THE RIGHT THING
New Zealand has a reputation as a forward-thinking country with progressive views and has been rated as a world-leader in LGBTQI rights.
New Zealand’s reputation has been built on a history of doing the right thing:
Homosexual Law Reform Bill 1986: decriminalised sexual relations between men aged 16 and over
Human Rights Act 1993: prohibited discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation
New Zealand had the first transgender politician in the world, 1999 - 2007
New Zealand was the first country in Asia-Oceania to legalise same sex marriage. Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Act 2013: legalised same-sex marriage
New Zealand’s military ranks No. 1 in the LGBT Military Index, 2014 https://www.hcss.nl/news/lgbt_military_index_1
USING THE RAINBOW FERNMARK LOGO
Use of the logo is for New Zealand Government agencies only. Government agencies can download, share and use the creative content developed by the New Zealand Story at events, festival and promotions supporting the campaign objectives globally. The Rainbow FernMark should only be used in its entirety on printed or digital collateral. The Rainbow FernMark should not be altered in any way. Always use the Rainbow FernMark logo with NEW ZEALAND, never without. Please contact us for more information.
ABOUT THE NEW ZEALAND STORY GROUP & FERNMARK LICENCE PROGRAMME
The trademarked government FernMark is managed by the New Zealand Story Group, an initiative working to enhance New Zealand’s international reputation. The New Zealand Story Group enables government and businesses to leverage their New Zealand competitive advantage. It does this by arming our New Zealand exporters with the tools, skills and knowledge to communicate more compelling stories about New Zealand, grounded in our values, to shift perceptions, open doors and grow opportunities.
WHY DO WE NEED TO TELL OUR STORIES?
In a competitive global economy, reputation matters. And it’s important for a country like ours, with an economy that relies on the strengths of its exports, to continue to grow and diversify. The more we can do to ensure we’re all telling broad, compelling and aspirational stories about New Zealand, that are grounded in our values and resonate with the world, the greater chance we have of attracting people to all that we offer. Put simply, we need to make New Zealand famous for more good things. Insights from our country perception research showed that we need to balance our own internal view with an ‘outside in’ perspective of New Zealand, using multiple voices and telling many stories that demonstrate our values of kaitiaki, ingenuity and integrity.