6HILLGROVE gets help from creative director Andy Lish for new ‘Wales – New Zealand of the North’ campaign for The Welsh Whisky Company

6HILLGROVE sought help for The Welsh Whisky Company’s latest tongue-in-cheek advertising campaign, ‘Wales – New Zealand of the North’ from ‘World Famous in New Zealand’ and GAYTM advertising creative director, Andy Lish. Lish’s ‘World Famous in New Zealand’ slogan, created in 1993 whilst at Saatchi & Saatchi Auckland for the Lemon & Paeroa (L&P) soft drink company, has become part of the common vernacular in New Zealand, and even has its own Wikipedia entry.

6HILLGROVE had the idea for the campaign in June 2021, after GlobalWelsh, the official Welsh Diaspora organisation, used netnographic research by sapien.d, a Canadian digital anthropology company founded by Welshman Giles Crouch, to quiz Welsh people spread out all over the world and found that the ‘New Zealand of the North’ description is commonly used when describing Wales. Many Welsh people also referred to Tolkein and similar fantasy references.

Infact, Wales has often been described as ‘New Zealand of the North’ casually by marketeers and the likes of VisitWales and VisitBritain.

Says Richard Hillgrove founder of 6HILLGROVE: “It was about time that someone took the bull by the horns and turned it into an actual marketing campaign.”

It’s not hard to see why the comparison works so well. The geography of both countries is similar. The national sport of both Wales and New Zealand is rugby, which creates enormous rivalry but intense mutual respect between the two nations. Both countries are also synonymous with sheep and farming. There is a similar population – 3.19 million (2022) people live in Wales, with 4.89m in New Zealand (2022). To many, it’s as if Wales is a New Zealand parallel universe.

The multi-award winning Welsh Whisky Company currently exports its Penderyn Welsh Single Malt Whisky to over 45 countries worldwide. Its largest export market is France. Meehan’s of Dunedin recently became Penderyn’s New Zealand distributor. Last year, Penderyn had its largest ever gold-medal haul at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

But Penderyn has now set its sights on expanding its penetration of the Oceanic and Asian markets – and sees the Welsh comparison to a ‘clean, green and friendly’ New Zealand as providing an excellent reference point to countries including The People’s Republic Of China, Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, India and Thailand, The Republic of Korea and Hong Kong, where the ‘New Zealand’ brand recognition is high.

Since Lockdown, the growth of the single malt whisky market in Asia has spiked. At the same time, Wales has become a pivotal part of the world whisky market. The Asia Pacific now represents 30% of the overall market for Alcohol (Andorit Market Research, 2018). China is now the single largest consumer of alcohol in the world.

According to Forbes Magazine: “China is a rapidly growing market for all spirits, but Scotch whiskey [Single Malt Whiskey] is chief among them.”

The campaign, which commenced in New Zealand two weeks ago on outdoor billboards across Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch and Facebook has already made quite a stir.

Penderyn Distillery, which recently celebrated it’s 21st anniversary, sees the ‘Wales – New Zealand of the North’ comparison-campaign as a mark of respect for New Zealand.

Late in 2022, Penderyn will be opening its third £2.75 million distillery in Swansea, Wales. In May 2021, Penderyn opened its £5m North Wales distillery in Llandudno. The original distillery, opened by the Prince of Wales, Prince Charles, was in the Brecon Beacons, South Wales in 2001. Two years ago, Warren Gatland CBE, the former All Black-turned head coach of the Wales rugby team was presented with a celebratory bottle of Penderyn’s Grand Slam whisky, called ‘Gatastic’.

Says Stephen Davies, chief executive, Penderyn Distillery: “Warren Gatland is a great friend of Wales and an honorary Welshman.”

The Welsh-New Zealand connection for the ‘Wales – New Zealand of the North’ campaign came about through 6HILLGROVE founder Richard Hillgrove’s friendship with former Saatchi & Saatchi Auckland adman Kelly Addis, who attended Massey University in Palmerston North, New Zealand, together in the 90’s.  Addis was president of the Massey University Student Union when Hillgrove was the editor-in-chief of the Massey University Student newspaper, Chaff.

Hillgrove, a Kiwi-born in Christchurch, has been living in London since May 1999. He represents PR for The Welsh Whisky Company. He asked Addis to assemble a crack New Zealand team to handle the uniquely ‘Kiwi brief’, effectively ‘bringing Addis out of advertising retirement for a Last Hurrah’.

Addis is the former CEO of McCarthy Moon Australia based in Melbourne. He founded Boiler Room Communications in Melbourne, which he sold to a Commquest IPO in 2007 for an 8-figure sum. In 2009, Addis bought Boiler Room Communications back and sold it again in 2012 to Zoo Australia, becoming the CEO of Zoo for two years. In the 90’s Addis worked at Saatchi & Saatchi Auckland where he worked with legendary Andy Lish. Addis’s wife, Christina Hyde, is the Chairperson of Waiheke Island Tourism Inc.