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Don’t have a cow, man

Posted in General, Advertising, Marketing, Nikki Preston, Latest reporters' blogs August 24th, 2007 by Nikki Preston

As a kiwi maybe I am slightly modest, but New Zealand beef and lamb is renowned for its high quality and good taste and has always held a prime place in the chilled meat section in major UK supermarkets.

So yesterday’s (23 August) decision by Meat & Wool New Zealand to stop promoting New Zealand meat in the UK seems a rather foolish move by both New Zealand and British farmers.

New Zealand exports more than NZ$4.5 billion each year so it can’t afford to lose revenues in one of its larger markets.

New Zealand meat has been available in the UK for many years and is regarded as a premium product and is therefore priced accordingly.

I admit that after the last foot and mouth scare consumers were purchasing more New Zealand meat instead of British meat. But if they hadn’t purchased New Zealand meat the alternative may have been no red meat at all.

The reason given for halting ads is that British farmers are concerned that the recent foot and mouth scare could impact their sales and see people turning for NZ meat instead. But in my experience if people are nervous about foot and mouth then they will simply avoid buying meat altogether.

Britons won’t start eating British meat again just because New Zealand beef has called a halt to its advertising as the product itself sill exists and can win consumers’ over at point of sale.

Instead of trying to eliminate competition, why doesn’t the British Farming Community launch a pro-active campaign to educate and reassure Britons about British beef rather than simply trying to squash its competitor?

Is it now time for the advertising and media community to stamp its feet at the possibility of losing the £837,765 Meat and Wool New Zealand spends on marketing in the UK every year?

To read the news story related to this blog, go to mad.co.uk