Posts Tagged ‘Buy local’

Kiwi authenticity – Crafars v Icebreaker

One of the reasons BigCake is confident about New Zealand’s future, provided we get our act together on promoting economic growth, is that some international consumer trends are at last turning our way.

Our economic decline started when world trade patterns shifted from commodities to high-value consumer products.

But “clean and green” has been a huge hot trend in major markets for a while and on a list of micro trends for 2010 produced by Marketing Week was authenticity. I’d pick this will have a much longer shelf life than this year.

“Brand values have suddenly become important. When we consumers have less to spend, we want to invest in things that matter. We may have resisted the Nanny State implications of the last Labour-led Government but we did admire and adopt at least some of the values of the Rod Donald/Jeanette Fitzsimons Green partnership.”

I think that’s because Marketing Week believes the pair are (were) authentic, though both have now gone from the national political stage.

If you are looking for an authentic Kiwi story, you can’t go passed outdoor clothing maker Icebreaker.

It’s tied its brand to nature New Zealand’s outdoors and New Zealand merino – and used associated values to drive everything it does.

It’s so confident in the story it has got to tell, it allows customers to trace each garment they buy back to the sheep stations where the merino fibre was grown.

Garments have a Baacode (urrgh) which customers can enter on http://www.icebreaker.com/site/baacode/index.html and trace their garment to where the wool came from, including meeting the farmer, and following the production process.

This means having total confidence in every bit of the supply chain. Though bulk milk exporting is a totally different situation, Fonterra need to start thinking more like Icebreaker.

Meet the Crafars anybody?

Note – Icebreaker products are made in China which I guess was the result of a compromise between staying a two-bit truly authentic Kiwi company with manufacturing in New Zealand and its desire to be a truly global player.

If Icebreaker wanted to be a force to be reckoned with on international markets, the scale and efficiency offered by Asian manufacturers was the only way to go.

Another associated micro trend picked by Market Week was “prove it”.

“Because consumer confidence worldwide last year took a hit, 2010 will see increased consumer demand for proof – most especially by way of reviews from other consumers. More and more, we’ll look for peer validation before we buy almost anything.”

And just in case you think all is good there’s “local sourcing”.

“Food retailers and eateries will trumpet the local and hyperlocal origins of many of their products, driven by a combination of marketing spin and a genuine desire to offer sustainable values.”

But as I wrote for Idealog consumers will not automatically switch to local food if they believe doing so puts inferior products on their tables. A buy local campaign in the United Kingdom, targeting Fonterra’s anchor brand, and featuring former Sex Pistol Johnny Rotten backfired.

The campaign sought to point out that contrary to what many Brits thought, Anchor was not British. Market feedback is that when they got put right by Rotten, many regarded the news that Anchor was Kiwi as another reason to buy Anchor.