Rural delivery: Global push on red meat worth it

By TONY LEGGETT*

New Zealand's image as a red-meat exporter is overdue for a makeover. In fact, it needs a facelift.

The opportunity is rapidly disappearing for New Zealand red-meat producers and exporters to lock in their position as providers of safe, natural food. Other countries are racing for the high ground as increasing numbers of health-conscious consumers crave food that they can eat with confidence.

Consumers have never before paid so much attention to food safety. Crises such as mad cow disease and various E coli outbreaks have seen to that.

New Zealand could not be better placed to grab a chunk of its own high ground. To do it, we need a global positioning campaign for red meat.

It must be constructed to allow meat exporters the opportunity to leverage off it with their own company brands.

The days of meat exporters fighting each other at the farm gate, and in the marketplace, may be drawing to an end.

But is enough progress being made by them and Meat New Zealand to position red meat in a premier slot in the minds of consumers around the world?

Exporters know that the real enemy is not each other. It is those nations who export competing proteins such as chicken, pork and fish.

So, why not join hands where it is appropriate, and between countries, to promote the positive benefits of red meat?

Promoting the health and nutritional benefits of red-meat consumption is just one area where every participating country could benefit.

Aligning our sector with other countries would also add a lot of grunt to the meagre promotional dollars applied in this area by Meat NZ and meat exporters.

Meat NZ budgeted to spend $11.5 million on its in-market services division for the past 12 months.

Spent in isolation, it is a drop in the bucket. Matched with investments from red-meat producing countries it could pay for meaningful programmes which have wider impact.

New Zealand has a wonderful story to tell about its environment and its meat production methods. Sure, there are some risks with any form of elitist marketing strategy. But it is a gamble worth taking.

Meat NZ director John McCarthy favours a global promotional campaign drawing together food, wine, and tourism interests to develop a more complete New Zealand story. It must be explored.

New Zealand has the lamb rosette, conservatively valued at £80 million ($272 million) and highly successful in Britain.

It may be one of the most recognised brands with over-45-year-old British housewives, but its influence is weakening without further investment.

A new generation of consumers has entered the market, seeking to satisfy a different set of demands or requirements to their parents.

Meat NZ has also rolled out its "New Zealand beef story" through Asia over the past year.

But support from the meat export sector is mediocre.

Surely, there is a place on the international stage for the New Zealand Beef and Lamb Marketing Bureau, that lean but effective team, winning world acclaim for innovative campaigns such as Ironstein and Iron Brion.

In spite of decreasing funding from the meat industry and farmers, it continues to prove the value of targeted campaigns which highlight the nutritional values of red meat consumption within New Zealand.

Could the bureau's highly successful Quality Mark be extended internationally?

Research last year showed that two-thirds of New Zealand consumers preferred to buy beef and lamb with the Quality Mark symbol.

The challenge for meat companies will be to agree on terms for a fully funded promotional campaign.

Several firms are meeting Meat NZ staff in Wellington today and high on the agenda is meat promotion. Let's hope common sense prevails over one-upmanship.

* Tony Leggett is editor of Country-Wide, a monthly rural newspaper.