Australia Week
Encyclopedia
Since 2004, Australia Week has attempted to bring Australian food and wine, travel, film, arts, culture, fashion and business to a US audience. With over 15,000 participants in 2008, it was the largest annual foreign country promotion in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The event is produced by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Australia)
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is a department of the government of Australia charged with advancing the interests of Australia and its citizens internationally...

, Qantas
Qantas
Qantas Airways Limited is the flag carrier of Australia. The name was originally "QANTAS", an initialism for "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services". Nicknamed "The Flying Kangaroo", the airline is based in Sydney, with its main hub at Sydney Airport...

 Airways, Tourism Australia
Tourism Australia
Tourism Australia is a statutory authority of the Government of Australia, with responsibility for tourism marketing within Australia and internationally, as well as research and forecasting of domestic and global tourism trends...

 and Austrade. The ten-day promotion is held annually during the month of January in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 and New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. The objective of Australia Week is to demonstrate Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 as an innovative, high growth, sophisticated economy, with leading edge research and technology in products, goods and services. The program highlights Australia’s economic credentials as a desirable place in which to do business and invest, source goods and services.

G'Day USA: Australia Week aims to present Australia as a modern, sophisticated society, while setting an accurate perception of Australia in the United States.

History

Pioneered in 2004 as G’Day LA, by the Australian Consul General in Los Angeles, the Hon. John Olsen
John Olsen
John Wayne Olsen, AO was Premier of South Australia between 28 November 1996 and 22 October 2001.-Parliament:Olsen was a member of the Liberal Party and Member of Parliament for more than 20 years...

 AO
AO
-Science and technology:* .ao, top-level Internet domain code for Angola* Adaptive optics, an astronomical imaging technology* Arctic oscillation, a climate pattern* The AMSAT-OSCAR satellite naming convention...

, G'DAY USA: Australia Week has quickly expanded to become a bi-coastal celebration with top Australian celebrities, filmmakers, chefs and politicians taking part. Australia Week is now arguably the largest single foreign country promotion held annually in the United States, showcasing all things Australian.

In 2006, Olsen was reassigned to the post of Consul General in New York. It was then Olsen re-branded the event from G'DAY LA to a larger umbrella of G'DAY USA.

Since its inception, G’DAY USA: Australia Week has raised the profile of Australia, its policy perspectives and the capabilities of its key industries in the US market, particularly entertainment and culture, tourism and sport, food and beverages, energy, manufacturing and education. It has been an important instrument for promoting Australia as a destination for productive investment from the United States. In addition, the event set a benchmark for the international promotion of Australia and Australian interests.

To appeal to the New York audience of high-powered investors and research and development (R&D) executives, the Australia Week Steering Committee added Innovation and Financial Services days to the program in 2007.

Trade

The Australia Week promotion has resulted in excess of $22.5 million in trade and investment across sectors as diverse as art, food, wine, fashion, tourism and business services.

Fashion has become a key component in the program, allowing Australian designers to gain a foothold in the highly complex US market. Since the Australia Week Fashion Showroom was instituted in 2007, several designers have recorded significant export sales to high end fashion department/specialty stores.

Food and Beverage: Australia Week has vastly improved access of Australian products to the U.S. market. During the first week of the supermarket promotion in New York, high demand forced Citarella stores to re-order several Australian products.

The 2008 Bristol Farms promotion saw Australian product lines expand from 32 item in 2007 to 46 items. Citarella’s second Australia Week promotion in 2008 featured 53 Australian product lines, an increase of 20 products from the previous year.

The 2008 Winter Fancy Food Show attracted over 16,000 buyers from food, wine, gift & department stores, supermarkets & restaurants from around the world, with 32,000 visitors and attendees. With trade outcomes from 2008 still being collected, exhibitors predict even bigger results than 2007’s 31 export deals, totaling more than $3.7 million.

Innovation

The Innovation Day has provided Australian companies visibility, new deals and partnerships with members of the American venture capital and R&D industries. Tasmanian company Autech Software & Design
Autech Software and Design
Autech Software and Design is a software and graphic design company which provides colour marketing solutions to companies helping them to promote and sell their products. Established in 1993 in Launceston, Tasmania, Autech develops a number of specialised product visualisers and electronic colour...

, producers of colour visualisation software, won the inaugural Innovation Shootout in 2007; being selected as Australia’s most innovative company by a panel of judges including the Wall Street Journal and CEO’s of some of America’s leading venture capital
Venture capital
Venture capital is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies. The venture capital fund makes money by owning equity in the companies it invests in, which usually have a novel technology or business model in high technology industries, such as...

 firms. The company received widespread media coverage both in Australia and overseas, including articles in the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...

 and Wall Street Journal, and the company CEO being interviewed on Chinese television. Fermiscan, the winner of the 2008 Innovation competition, also received extensive media coverage including Fox Business News, BusinessWeek Magazine, ABC News NY and CW 11 New York.

The Innovation Day and Financial Services events focus on brokering business connections within the finance and R&D communities, exposing US executives to Australian innovators and financial services leaders. The marquee session of the Innovation Day includes the 'Innovation Shootout' whereby six Australian states compete to have their product/innovation funded and launched in the US marketplace.

Tourism

Qantas
Qantas
Qantas Airways Limited is the flag carrier of Australia. The name was originally "QANTAS", an initialism for "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services". Nicknamed "The Flying Kangaroo", the airline is based in Sydney, with its main hub at Sydney Airport...

 bookings rose during Australia Week 2008 to record-breaking levels. As a result of the promotion, in April 2008, Qantas Airways will increase its capacity to offer 47 flights between US and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 – nearly doubling capacity over the last five years since the promotion began.

Australia-Week.com and Australia.com received almost 150,000 visits, with visitors spending 17,500 hours learning about Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.

Media coverage

Australia Week 2008 media coverage generated 445 million global audience impressions—an equivalent advertising buy of approximately $7.5 million.

The Black Tie Galas in Los Angeles and New York serve as the publicity anchors of G’DAY USA: Australia Week. The dinners honor high profile individuals for significant contributions in their industries and for excellence in promoting Australia in the United States. Previous honorees include: Cate Blanchett
Cate Blanchett
Catherine Élise "Cate" Blanchett is an Australian actress. She came to international attention for her role as Elizabeth I of England in the 1998 biopic film Elizabeth, for which she won British Academy of Film and Television Arts and Golden Globe Awards, and earned her first Academy Award...

, Anthony LaPaglia
Anthony LaPaglia
Anthony M. LaPaglia is an Australian actor. He is known for his role as FBI agent Jack Malone on the American TV series Without a Trace, for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama...

, Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson
Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...

, Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman, AC is an American-born Australian actress, singer, film producer, spokesmodel, and humanitarian. After starring in a number of small Australian films and TV shows, Kidman's breakthrough was in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm...

, Keith Urban
Keith Urban
Keith Lionel Urban is a New Zealand-born Australian, country music singer, songwriter and guitarist whose commercial success has been mainly in the United States and Australia. Urban was born in New Zealand and began his career in Australia at an early age...

, Olivia Newton John, Naomi Watts
Naomi Watts
Naomi Ellen Watts is a British actress. Watts began her career in Australian television, where she appeared in series such as Hey Dad..! , Brides of Christ , and Home and Away . Her film debut was the 1986 drama For Love Alone...

, Russell Crowe
Russell Crowe
Russell Ira Crowe is a New Zealander Australian actor , film producer and musician. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius in the 2000 historical epic film Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor, a...

, INXS
INXS
INXS are an Australian rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. Mainstays are Garry Gary Beers on bass guitar, Andrew Farriss on guitar/keyboards, Jon Farriss on drums, Tim Farriss on lead guitar and Kirk Pengilly on guitar/sax...

, Kylie Minogue
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...

, Phillip Noyce
Phillip Noyce
Phillip Noyce is an Australian film director.-Life and career:Noyce was born in Griffith, New South Wales, attended Barker College, Sydney, and began making short films at the age of 18, starting with Better to Reign in Hell, using his friends as the cast...

 and Colette Dinnigan.

In 2011, The Black Tie Gala signature event will honor Legendary Australian Singer Barry Gibb
Barry Gibb
Barry Alan Crompton Gibb, CBE , is a singer, songwriter and producer. He was born in the Isle of Man to English parents. With his brothers Robin and Maurice, he formed The Bee Gees, one of the most successful pop groups of all time. The trio got their start in Australia, and found their major...

, Tennis Champion Roy Emerson
Roy Emerson
Roy Stanley Emerson is an Australian former tennis player who won 12 Grand Slam singles titles and 16 Grand Slam men's doubles titles. He is the only male player to have won singles and doubles titles at all four Grand Slam tournaments. His 28 Grand Slam titles are an all-time record for a male...

 and acclaimed Actress Abbie Cornish
Abbie Cornish
Abbie Cornish is an Australian actress. She is well known in Australia for a number of film and television roles, particularly her award-winning lead performance in 2004's Somersault, and internationally for her role as Fanny Brawne in Bright Star and her appearance as Sweet Pea in Sucker Punch.-...

. Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John AO, OBE is a singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums. Eleven of her singles and 14 of her albums have been certified gold by the RIAA...

 will be presenting to Barry Gibb, Andre Agassi
Andre Agassi
Andre Kirk Agassi is a retired American professional tennis player and former world no. 1. Generally considered by critics and fellow players to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time, Agassi has been called the best service returner in the history of the game...

 will be presenting to Roy Emerson and Director Zach Snyder will be presenting to Abbie Cornish. The evening will feature Australian food prepared by celebrity chefs Curtis Stone
Curtis Stone
Curtis Stone is an Australian celebrity chef, author and television personality, nicknamed "The Quiet Terminator" by fans following his performance on The Celebrity Apprentice 3.-Background:...

 and Wolfgang Puck
Wolfgang Puck
Wolfgang Johannes Puck is an Austrian-American celebrity chef, restaurateur, businessman and occasional actor. Wolfgang Puck restaurants, catering services, cookbooks and licensed products are run by Wolfgang Puck Companies, with three divisions...

. Entertainment will include performances by Guy Sebastian
Guy Sebastian
Guy Theodore Sebastian is an Australian pop, R&B, and soul singer-songwriter who was the first winner of Australian Idol in 2003. He is currently a judge on the Australian version of The X Factor. Sebastian has released six top ten platinum/multi platinum albums, including a number-one and...

, The Qantas Choir and a fashion show presented by Myer
Myer
Myer is Australia's largest department store chain, retailing a broad range of merchandise including women's, men's and children's clothing, footwear and accessories; cosmetics and fragrance; homewares; electrical; furniture and bedding; toys; books and stationery; food and confectionery; and...

.

US Media

BusinessWeek
BusinessWeek
Bloomberg Businessweek, commonly and formerly known as BusinessWeek, is a weekly business magazine published by Bloomberg L.P. It is currently headquartered in New York City.- History :...

, People
People (magazine)
In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...

, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

, New York Daily News
New York Daily News
The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....

, New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...

, Newsday
Newsday
Newsday is a daily American newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties and the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, although it is sold throughout the New York metropolitan area...

, LA Times, AP
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...

, Discover
Discover (magazine)
Discover is an American science magazine that publishes articles about science for a general audience. The monthly magazine was launched in October 1980 by Time Inc. It was sold to Family Media, the owners of Health, in 1987. Walt Disney Company bought the magazine when Family Media went out of...

, Metro
Metro Newspapers
Metro Newspapers is an American newspaper company based in San Jose, California. It currently publishes three free alternative weekly newspapers in Northern California: Metro Silicon Valley, Santa Cruz Weekly and the North Bay Bohemian...

, AM New York
AM New York
amNewYork is a morning free daily newspaper , published in New York City by Cablevision. According to the company, average daily distribution as of December 2008 was 345,053, according to MondoNewspapers.com. When the newspaper launched October 10, 2003, amNewYork was the first newspaper of its...

, Bizbash, US Weekly
Us Weekly
Us Weekly is a celebrity gossip magazine, founded in 1977 by The New York Times Company, who sold it in 1980. It was acquired by Wenner Media in 1986. The publication covers topics ranging from celebrity relationships to the latest trends in fashion, beauty, and entertainment...

, Ok Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...

and Time Out NY, Access Hollywood
Access Hollywood
Access Hollywood is a weekday television entertainment news program covering events and celebrities in the entertainment industry. It was created by former Entertainment Tonight executive producer Jim Van Messel, and is currently directed by Robert Silverstein. In previous years, Doug Dougherty and...

, Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight is a daily tabloid television entertainment television news show that is syndicated by CBS Television Distribution throughout the United States, Canada and in many countries around the world. Linda Bell Blue is currently the program's executive producer...

, The Insider
The Insider (TV series)
The Insider is an American tabloid television news program covering events and celebrities. It debuted on September 13, 2004 as a spinoff of Entertainment Tonight and started as a popular segment that took viewers "behind closed doors" and gave them "inside" information...

, Extra
Extra (TV series)
Extra is an American entertainment television news program covering events and celebrities which debuted on September 5, 1994 in syndication. It is produced at Victory Studios in Glendale, California by Telepictures Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television Distribution...

, CBS Early Show, Today Show, The Ellen Degeneres Show
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
The Ellen DeGeneres Show, often shortened to Ellen, is an American television talk show hosted by comedian/actress Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it is produced by Telepictures and airs in syndication, including stations owned by NBC Universal. For its first five seasons, the show...

, Fox & Friends
Fox & Friends
Fox & Friends is an American morning television show on the Fox News Channel.-History:The show begins at 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time with the latest Fox News Live headlines and analyzes the news of the morning...

, Martha Stewart
Martha Stewart
Martha Stewart is an American business magnate, author, magazine publisher, and television personality. As founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, she has gained success through a variety of business ventures, encompassing publishing, broadcasting, and merchandising...

, Inside Edition
Inside Edition
Inside Edition is a thirty-minute American television syndicated news program, first aired on CBS on October 9, 1988. It was originally similar to the programs Hard Copy and A Current Affair, but now more closely resembles a condensed version of breakfast television, exclusively with pre-recorded...

, ABC News NY, E! News
E! News
E! News, previously known as E! News Daily and E! News Live, is a nightly entertainment newsmagazine program airing on E!: Entertainment Television. The program debuted on September 1, 1991 and talks about Hollywood celebrities and gossip...

, CW 11, KCBS 2 News (LA), Good Day LA, Good Day NY, Fox Affiliates.

Australian Media

Sky News, Today Show
Today (Australian TV program)
Today and Weekend Today are Australian breakfast television programmes, the show is often referred to as The Today Show. The show has been broadcast live by the Nine Network each morning since 1982...

, Network Ten News, Seven Network News, Nine Network News, Australian Broadcasting Corporation TV News and Radio, Austereo Network, Radio 2GB and Fairfax Radio Network (including 2UE, 6PR, 3AW), Australian Associated Press
Australian Associated Press
Australian Associated Press is Australia's national news agency. The organisation was established in 1935 by Fairfax and The Herald and Weekly Times.AAP employs more than 175 journalists who work in bureaux in all Australian states and territories...

, The Australian
The Australian
The Australian is a broadsheet newspaper published in Australia from Monday to Saturday each week since 14 July 1964. The editor in chief is Chris Mitchell, the editor is Clive Mathieson and the 'editor-at-large' is Paul Kelly....

, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald is a daily broadsheet newspaper published by Fairfax Media in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1831 as the Sydney Herald, the SMH is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Australia. The newspaper is published six days a week. The newspaper's Sunday counterpart, The...

, Who, Woman’s Day, News Limited Newspapers (including Sun Herald, The Courier-Mail, Adelaide Advertiser, The Daily Telegraph), Queensland Business Review, Ragtrader and Encore Magazine and MX.

In addition to the media coverage, a partnership with BusinessWeek delivered a special supplement about Australia. More than 4.8 million readers received the supplement, including over 620,000 C-level executives.
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