Pict ur i ng expor t success
New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) has helped tourism attraction photography company Magic Memories expand its offering from the South Island to markets around the world
LIKE MOST KIWI companies, Queenstownbased Magic Memories started small, offering its photography services to local businesses. Visitors to the Queenstown Gondola, for example, were snapped during their journey, and then Magic Memories offered the photos for sale at the end of their visit, as a momento.
Twenty years later, the company is no longer local. With offices in three continents and partners in eight countries, it offers tailored photography experiences and products to more than 90 tourism attractions throughout Asia, Europe, Australasia and North America.
Every year, 50 million visitors get their photo taken in a Magic Memories’ partner attraction. Then, using technology to blend content and context, the company tells and sells personalised, relevant stories to the customers and offers the final product in a
Our brand values and our user proposition are very clear
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mix of published and digital formats.
Co-founder and group CEO John Wikstrom describes how Magic Memories didn’t really plan to go offshore; it was just an outcome of its local success.
“In New Zealand, others started asking for our particular business model,” he says. “In 2005, we looked to Australia as another market, and from there we were invited to partner with a company in London in 2010.”
Europe is currently Magic Memories’ biggest market, with North America experiencing rapid growth. The company has also licensed partners in China and South Africa.
“Our brand values and our user proposition are very clear to everyone in the business,” says Wikstrom.
“We’ve built a strong executive team. We have weekly revenue and export calls with key executives, and global benchmarking, KPIs and trends that we measure across sectors...You need to have these controls in the business when you’re in rapid-growth mode.”
Wikstrom says it’s crucial to understand your different markets and the demographics within them, and test your offering.
“You can’t expect what you’ve done in New Zealand to necessarily work overseas. You have to ...test your product with users in other markets and observe how they consume it.
“Then you need to tailor it appropriately, while still keeping focused on your competitive advantage.”
Wikstrom says Magic Memories has received valuable advice, contacts and support from NZTE to help inform decisions around its international expansion.
“We have a wonderful relationship with NZTE. It isn’t there to run your business; it is there to help power up your business – whether it’s via contacts, market research, Better by Design courses, access to regional executives who can help you ...understand your product in that market, or helping you fund regional growth initiatives – and I think we know how to get the most out of those services.”
He says NZTE’s Beachheads programme, which connects participating companies to a network of private sector mentors and advisors, was an important part of Magic Memories’ exporting success, as was Better by Design and growth funding.
"[We] make sure we keep in very close contact with NZTE ... There’s simply no doubt that NZTE has helped Magic Memories be bigger, better, faster. We’ve found the best way to engage with NZTE is to tell them our problem or the opportunity we want to maximise and ask how they can help.”