Kiwi businesses are as good as any globally, but where there's room for improvement is in telling their stories to the world.
Learning to blow their own trumpet was important for the owners of Babich Wines, one of New Zealand's oldest family-owned vineyards.
"We spent the first 95 years focused on making great wine, but not really telling our story," says company CEO David Babich. "Now we see that storytelling is a critical part of who we are."
The company has certainly made up for lost time. In 2016, Babich Wines marked its centenary by sharing 100 stories that have shaped the Babich family's century of innovation, achievement and winemaking excellence.
Babich says in recent years the narrative has evolved from one of experience and heritage to a focus on what Babich Wines is doing today, and into the future, with an emphasis on its sustainable practices.
Sustainability is integral to the Babich Wines story. It was one of New Zealand's first sustainably registered vineyards over 20 years ago, and its wine-making process has been sustainably certified since the programme began. The company has been making organic wine for more than a decade and also offers a range of vegan wine.
"Sustainability is more than a modern trend for us," says Babich. "It's part of our legacy. We've always taken a very long-term view when it comes to our business."
For food and beverage (F&B) exporters, there's never been a better time to communicate their sustainable and ethical credentials. Te Taurapa Tūhono New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) is the government's international business development agency. NZTE recently surveyed 14,000 F&B shoppers across six offshore markets in the B2C (business to consumer) space to understand what food and drink consumers want.
The study identified eight values that drive purchase decisions. Among those values were 'ethical, environmental or social issues.'
Craig Armstrong, NZTE's lead for food and beverage, says the research was highly informative: "The study showed the importance for our F&B exporters to amplify their commitments and credentials around sustainability and ethical production in their storytelling.
"Covid-19 has accelerated and solidified these values; it's reinforced that our F&B products are safe, tasty, healthy, trusted, premium quality and produced with experience and care. This can really set us apart from our competitors."
New Zealand's F&B industry is a major contributor to the economy, accounting for around 46 per cent of all goods and services exports.
To help boost awareness of New Zealand food and beverage and reinforce its position as a trusted, sustainable global food source, NZTE launched Made with Care in late 2020. This global campaign gave New Zealand F&B exporters access to a suite of free, ready-made marketing assets to use in their own sales and marketing efforts.
"The art of storytelling has always been around," says Armstrong. "When Kiwis are in market in front of consumers and buyers, they're very good at storytelling. But in the last year, Covid-19 has made that impossible, so they've really had to adapt to embrace modern forms, like social media."
Babich Wines took full advantage of the Made with Care collateral, which includes video, images, key messages, social media templates, infographics and a campaign stamp.
"For us, the Made with Care campaign is confirmation that we've been doing things right ever since we planted our first vines over a century ago," says David Babich. "Every wine we produce is made with care.
"New Zealand has been in a strong position throughout the pandemic because we know there's been significant interest in sustainable products and organic products. Telling the world the story of what sets our wine apart is vital to our industry's success. Made with Care was a great opportunity for us to talk about it."
Babich Wines designed a landing page for its website based on the Made with Care campaign and published a number of Instagram posts using the campaign stamp. "We integrated Made with Care into our storytelling, and it was a great resource to be able to use."
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