Thursday 13 February 2014

It's true. People who grow food are starving.


Many of the farmers that grow the cheap food we throw in the bin every day can no longer feed themselves.

If the world already produces enough food to feed 12 billion people, why do we keep hearing about food security and not food waste?

In my last blog I proposed that to better-understand and find opportunity in the globalised food system, food waste was the elephant in the room.

Does this mean that the issue of food security does not exist?

Unfortunately, food security is a very real issue in many parts of the world.  Shamefully, food security is now an issue in the many regions that were once happily feeding themselves.
 
But if we are overproducing food how is it so?

For centuries subsistence farming has held-together rural communities in many third-world countries.  As the commoditisation of food has diminished the quality and availability of existing arable land, vast areas of native vegetation have been cleared to provide new land to grow crops.  To achieve this, those in control of the global food system have broken-down the subsistence farming model with the lure that poor rural communities can become rich.

Many of the crops grown are for export.  These are crops that can’t be eaten until they are processed or refined somewhere else e.g. coffee.  Basically a cheap way of growing food for someone else that can pay a higher price for it.

In many rural communities mono-crop farming has gone horribly wrong.  The local people no longer have neither their own food supply nor can they afford to buy food, because the cost of modern farming has sent them broke.  And to top it all off, they can’t return to their traditional ways because the ecology of their native land has been destroyed.  They are trapped in a vicious cycle of clearing more land.

Clearly, the issues of food security and food waste are unsustainable in today’s global food system.

Why am I picking on this?  It’s not why you think.

Consumer tipping point


If you are involved in agribusiness and food, then the topics of food security and food waste are a lesson in what it means to be consumer-centric.

Why is this important?

There is a HUGE groundswell movement by consumers who are demanding to understand the global food system.  We are on the verge of a tipping point whereby consumers will have a better understanding of the global food industry, than many of the operators in it.

This is significant because consumers will be making purchasing decisions based on their understanding.  So when they buy their food they will be seeking-out messages that demonstrate you understand to.

Do you truly understand what it is going on in your industry?  You need to understand the food system so that you know how to look for and identify the next market opportunity.

If you don’t understand what is happening in the food industry, you will not give-off the right messages and your products will not sell.

The non-price characteristics of food and food experience are the fastest growing phenomenon in food.  It provides small to medium operators an incredible niche opportunity to different themselves by projecting the right messages in the areas of:

  •          Sustainability
  •          Ecologically sound
  •          Land clearing
  •          Water usage
  •          Food waste
  •          Organic
  •          Non GM
  •          And so on.

There is more than enough room in all this to really build-up the intrinsic value of your products in the minds of consumers.


The higher the intrinsic value, the more money you make.


Tuesday 11 February 2014

The Great Global Food Waste Scandal.


If the world already produces enough food to feed 12 billion people, why do we keep hearing about food security and not food waste?

Instead of hearing a story about the need for food security, we should be hearing a story about the need to reduce food waste.

Did you know that about a third of all food produced is thrown away at some stage.  In fact, in some sectors up to 40% of food produced is thrown away before it even gets to the first stage of processing.

The answer is because the global food system is now controlled by a powerful few that are in the business of selling, not reducing.

These organisations have been grooming us to be consumers of processed foods, and have been grooming farmers as consumers of inputs.  In many instances it is the same company in the business of both.

Positioning yourself in the middle of the food supply chain is precarious but highly profitable.  Like any supply chain, it is precarious in the sense that if consumers can get closer to the origin of their food, then mid-market participants would be out of business.

Consequently, they have been aggressively establishing their position, consolidating and defending it.

But to keep making loads of money, two things need to keep happening:

-                        -  Farmers need to keep overproducing,
-                      -  And we need to keep overeating.

Reducing global food waste is the elephant in the room, because less waste means food would be cheaper, healthier, more accessible, less repeat-purchase of processed food products by consumers and less inputs used by farmers.

This great presentation really sets the scene:


High-levels of food waste actually keep the global food system inelastic enough for a powerful few to make a huge amount of money.

This also means there is no buffer for production shocks such as drought, which means they make even more money during times of adversity.

For these companies it is vital that a third of the world’s food is wasted.



I think consumers understand the issue of food waste very easily and are suspicious of the food security and productivity argument e.g. GM crops.  Consequently, food waste is a story not often told.

This presents some awesome marketing opportunities for savvy food producers.  If you’re food waste responsible, let’s tell consumers the story.
 
It won’t be long before messages about responsible food waste are on the front of food labels at the behest of consumers.




As much as consumers can be sold a story by the powerful few, so can our farmers of the world.  In my next blog I’ll talk about the story farmers have been sold and how many of them can now no longer feed their own families.



To join in simply click on the word COMMENTS below.



Thursday 6 February 2014

Adelaide. Breathe. What the bloody hell is that?

One of THE most expensive mistakes in marketing is to make yourself feel good and not your customers.  It’s the oldest trap in the book.

And someone spending your money to scratch your ego is the oldest trick in the book.

Sometimes I get so frustrated when I see this happening I’m lost for words.  Especially when I know someone has kissed goodbye to a lot of money.

In particular I’ve been tracking the new cryptic campaigns about South Australia, because they are linked to promoting our regions, agriculture and food.  As I said, I’m mostly lost for words.

Quite frankly, the fact that some of these creations have won awards within their own art fraternity means diddly-squat to the client (or taxpayer) that paid for it and wants results.

So I asked local advertising guru Karen Zaskolny of www.copywithcream.com.au to take a look at the situation.  Karen is a straight-shooter with the ‘street cred’ to back it up.

Enjoy.


Wanky commercials that nobody gets.

There seem to be a few ads around lately that are so out-there, nobody has a clue what’s going on. Self-indulgent, arty ads that I think don’t work. Like the new ad for Adelaide. Maybe it’s a case of The Emperor’s Clothes, where you have to be really clever to get it. I obviously failed this IQ test. Do you pass? Here it is.
But who is this ad made for?
Are we making ads to make ourselves feel better because we have an identity crisis in Adelaide? Or are we really making something for the Eastern states? According to the article in Travel Weekly, our Premier said “It will get people talking about and travelling to Adelaide to find out for themselves what it is that is changing here.”

I hate to burst Jay’s bubble but according to market research conducted recently in the Eastern states, people’s response to Adelaide was actually ‘nothing’ – not negative or positive, just neutral. They really don’t care. And I’m not sure this ad will make them change their minds. They definitely won’t jump on a plane on the off-chance. Personally, I’m into recycling, so I reckon we could re-edit the previous ad for Adelaide, which at least showcased our festivals. Here’s the link for that one. 


The ad is made by the same mob as did the Barossa ad a short while back. I’m sure you’ve seen it but if you haven’t, here’s the link.


So where the bloody hell are you?’
The new Adelaide ad not only makes me think ‘What the bloody hell is going on?’ it also makes me think ‘Where the bloody hell are you?’ because the ad makes you wait till the end — a minute and a half! — before telling you that you are actually in Adelaide.
Speaking of the famous ‘Where the bloody hell are you?’ Lara Bingle ad, that’s another one that missed the mark. Why? Because that tagline was clearly written for Australians. In fact, if the ad had been designed for Australians who’d moved overseas as part of the big brain-drain and wouldn’t come home, it mighta worked bonza. If you can’t remember the ad (and I’d be surprised) here it is.
It’s all a bit like the upside down ads in the paper
Years ago, I used to work at The Advertiser Newspaper, where part of my job seemed to be to try and stop clients doing stupid things. There was always the client that insisted on putting their ad in the paper upside down, thinking they were really clever. They wouldn’t believe us when we told them that sorry, nobody is going to put in the extra work needed to turn the paper round and read your ad — they’re busy flicking through to the Sports section. In much the same way, nobody is going to care about sitting through an ad that looks like 10 different movie trailers. In fact, the only place you’d sit through the ad is at the movies, because you are forced to. No remote.

Testing, testing…
It was also while I worked at the paper that I learnt a really good lesson. Just because I get the ad, doesn’t mean everybody else will. So I came up with a test. I’d come up with the ad concept, do a visual and then show the creative team. But they were creative. They weren’t the man in the street. The man in the street was the rep. Which was the real test. So even when I got a ‘yes’ from the creatives, I wouldn’t assume I could go with it.

Because creatives are not the man in the street
So, off I’d trot to the sales department and show the reps, one by one. If 9 out of 10 got it immediately, I’d present it to the client. But if half of them said “Sorry, I don’t get it…” I’d go back to the drawing board. It didn’t matter that I was ‘only’ working on $50 ads, not $500,000 TVCs, the principle was the same — no matter how much I love what I come up with, it’s important to make sure the target audience gets it. Otherwise, I’m just being self-indulgent.

Who is the target audience, anyway?
The question I always, always, always ask a new client, very early on, is — ‘Who exactly is your target audience?’ And I keep asking until I either get a clear answer from them or they let me help them find the answer. Only then will I start the process of trying to come up with ideas and direction for their advertising and communications.

The Kangaroo Island ad
The Kangaroo Island ad is also arty but at least it shows a family (who I assume is the target audience?) holidaying there and doing stuff together. It’s been well over 30 years since I visited Kangaroo Island but I can immediately recognise some of the touristy places in the commercial, so I think it portrays it fairly accurately for an arty ad. Here it is.
Why does the Eyre Peninsula ad feature 2 young women?
I wouldn’t have thought this was the target audience. But at least they show them doing things you can do on Eyre Peninsula. (Which they are promoting as a little bit scary.) They also set the scene at the very beginning of the ad by spelling out, on the screen, in words, Eyre Peninsula. Perhaps the target audience is young men? Who would never admit they’re scared of anything but who might well be enticed to go to the Eyre Peninsula because they think there are cute young girls holidaying over there? Maybe the idea was like getting the girls into the nightclubs with cheap drinks because the boys will follow? I have no idea. But here’s the link.


But it all kinda reminds me of Melbourne
Looking at all these ads together kinda reminds me of that old TV commercial for Melbourne. Remember? The one with the girl with the ball of string? Personally, I really liked it, even though it took me three viewings to get it. (Another epic fail in the old IQ test, clearly.) But did it work? I have no idea. Here it is.
Art for art’s sake
I hate bad ads that yell at you and/or treat you like you are an idiot. But I’m also not a fan of arty ads that appear to be have been made by frustrated film directors who’ve been given a big bag of money and a very long leash. Surely there’s a middle ground.



To start or join the discussion, simply click on COMMENTS below.