Our brand to market by Garth McClintock
December, 2009
Well, well it seems Cattlemen magazine is boasting that they scored better than Alberta Beef Magazine in an Ipsos Agricultural Media Survey conducted last spring. Hats off to them and from what I hear they are promoting this where ever they can. I guess with a sample size of 200 farm/ranches in Alberta and B.C. Peace region and having an error rate of 6.9% they should be proud? Given this sample represents roughly below 1% of the number of producers in the province, I guess you have to take what you can get.
Now, when we do our survey, we mail out 2,000 surveys randomly across the province and have on average a 40% return rate. That equates to about four times as many as the above mentioned sample. This is not to say that 200 is not accurate but, it does have a bearing on the error rates. See our error rate is less than 2% which in the world of statistics or the world of common sense, is much much better. Actually we could add another much there. Numbers aside, I can rise above the smoke and mirrors and applaud Cattlemen magazine for I believe it's a good magazine so Merry Christmas to them and their winning numbers - I'm sure it's a gift they'll keep on giving.
Yes, 'tis the season to be jolly and I do hope good tidings of comfort and joy soon sweep across our industry, say for Christmas? It has been quite a year [again] and our industry could use some positive news or cheering up if you will. I think in times like these where bad news reigns and coffee talk of such becomes infectious (some people actually thrive on bad news which can't be good), we collectively start to lose sight of the good. In fact there have been many positive in-roads made with respect to international beef sales. Looking at these post BSE gains, imagine if we hadn't brought back beef exports to where they are today. Granted they are not yet at pre-BSE rates but moving in the right direction - upward.
Hold outs like South Korea will likely bend to again open their borders and there will come a day where we will crack the EU walls, albeit with baby steps with an Au Natural product. Russia looks promising as does the Middle East (the Middle East accounted for 12% of U.S. exports in 2007). This region is affluent, educated and, a large percentage of their population is young (under 35) which explains the boom in fast food restaurants. Keeping with the Middle East and for that matter domestically, the Halal market is huge. It's said that 70% of Muslims around the world follow the food Halal standards which translates into $580 billion, certainly not chump change. Here at home there's an organization called the Arabic Muslim Consumer Group for Food Products. I can't say I have read anything showing me we're aggressively going after this market but I suspect we'll hear more about this opportunity down the road.
In this issue we profile Canadian Premium Meats (page7) who work with primary producers that have identified niche markets for their products. One being Prairie Heritage Angus Beef who are a group of some 20 producers who have chosen the marketing channel of natural beef.
This group and others to come will have many challenges in additional costs, red tape and politics running interference, but that's business. One component of business that I believe is paramount with beef sales is how the brand is positioned/marketed versus the main stream commodity priced product. Branded products will obviously cost more so justifying this comes back to marketing. Adding the global market place is very competitive and as such many buying decisions will be based on utility value the buyer perceives over the price. For instance, years ago I owned a VW Passat worth $20,000. Taking my car in for service work one day, my mechanics was working on a BMW. I asked him what the BMW was worth, "$40,000" he replied. I then asked, "Do you think this car is twice the vehicle I was driving?" He looked at me and said, "Some people believe it is."
Here in Alberta and as BIXS is doing nationally we have a great product, reputation and lately protocols to ensure our product stands above the crowd. I only hope that with all these regulations and additional costs "our" industry incurs, we can market our product to be viewed as the BMW of beef. Like the publishing business, it's all about the numbers. Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and New Year and...
Until next year. |
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