NSA writes to agricultural press in response to opinion piece
7th March 2016
This week NSA Chief Executive Phil Stocker wrote to agricultural publication, the Farmers Weekly, in response to an opinion piece on advertising within the industry. Read the full letter below.
Matthew Naylor (in last week’s Opinion piece) was not helping the important and serious debate about the most efficient use of levy funds by announcing that generic advertising is a waste of money.
It also seems to me to be a contradiction to suggest we should be investing in being more efficient and reducing production costs while also managing our supplies onto the market. Most livestock research and advice suggests the answer to being more efficient and reducing costs of production is to increase output and reduce fixed costs per unit. For years farmers have been encouraged to do this, and been fed generic information about the need to ramp up production to feed a growing population. They have, in large, responded and where has it got them?
UK livestock farming is made up of a large number of small businesses; it is not a large brand holder and, in my experience, any attempt to create independent own-brand meat on any scale has been resisted with some force by supermarkets.
It is also misleading to suggest the New Zealanders have succeeded solely by reducing costs of production. Does this mean all the NZ promotion I’ve seen for many years on the TV and in magazines has been donated free of charge or been done for some philanthropic cause? NZ have invested for years, using generic marketing, in creating a brand based on a clean, green and natural image that many of its products can fall beneath.
The needs of the UK livestock sector are broad and balanced. Of course we need research and innovation, and we need market intelligence, but we also need market and product development. Maybe image creation is a better phrase than generic promotion (and should avoid using aged cricketers).
Phil Stocker, Chief Executive, National Sheep Association
Read the full article here. Or download a PDF version below.
