Building Brand Australia Ian Harrison, Chief Executive, Australian Made Campaign Food Regulations and Labelling Standards Conference Sydney, 28 July 2015
Aug 12, 2015
Building Brand Australia
Ian Harrison, Chief Executive, Australian Made Campaign
Food Regulations and Labelling Standards Conference Sydney, 28 July 2015
I’ve been invited to make some comments on:
1) Australia as a supplier of choice,
2) the impact of breaches in food safety,
3) labelling standards and changes to regulations, and
4) the AMAG logo.
Obviously there’s a lot happening right now in respect of 3)
So I will deal quickly with the AMAG logo and then wrap the rest up into an interactive discussion session
Outline of presentation
Created as a certification trade mark across all 34 classes of goods by Fed Govt in 1986
legally enforceable set of rules govern its use
these rules can only be varied by agreement with the Fed Govt (the Dept of Industry) and then the formal ratification of the ACCC
Logo was assigned to AMCL in 1999
not-for-profit, public company set up by the business community through the ACCI network
Ownership transferred from Govt. to AMCL in 2002
binding management agreement in place with Fed Govt.
Campaign is funded by licence fees – not by Government
< 1/10th of 1% of sales of nom products ($300$25K pa, + gst)
The AMAG logo in brief
Logo recognised and trusted98% 94% 98%
86% 85% 88%
0%
25%
50%
75%
100%
2006 2009 2012
Recognition Trust
(Roy Morgan Research)
500
750
1000
1250
1500
1750
2000
2250
02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 06/07 07/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 14/15
Total licensees
Campaign Growing
Strong direction at Board level
AMCL’s national Board consists of ten Directors, elected by the 11 Member organisations
Glenn Cooper AM (Chairman), Chairman, Coopers Brewery Ltd (Adelaide)
Neil Summerson FCA (Treasurer), Company Director and former Chairman, BOQ (Brisbane)
Nicki Anderson, MD, Demo Plus (Melbourne)
Alf Cristaudo, Former Chairman, Canegrowers Australia (Townsville) Kate Carnell AO, CEO, Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Canberra)
Allyn Beard (Deputy Chairman), Company Director, A.H. Beard Pty Ltd (Sydney)
David Gray AM, MD, David Gray & Co. Pty Ltd (Perth) Robert Gerard AO, Executive Chairman, Gerard Corporation Pty Ltd (Adelaide) Robert Hutchinson, State Manager, ParexDavco (Australia) Pty Ltd (Brisbane)
Michele Levine, CEO, Roy Morgan Research (Melbourne)
Domestic marketing campaign
TV, radio, print and outdoor advertising
Extensive PR
Trade shows and expos
Comprehensive digital and social media strategy
Actually trying to help licensees sell their products
Digital presence great and rapidly expanding
www.australianmade.com.au
Visited over 90,000 times per month
Generates over 3,000 sales leads per month for licensees
Australian Made Club Nearly 30,000 members
Over 155,000 Facebook ‘likes’ Over 5,000 Twitter followers Over 1,000 Instagram followers Over 16,000 YouTube views
Key marketing messages The AMAG logo is the solution for shoppers
When consumers – people, businesses or Governments, see the logo, they can buy with confidence clean, green, healthy, fresh, etc
high standards, good value, fitness for purpose, readable instructions, warranties, etc
Buying Aussie products puts $s back into the local economy jobs, career opportunities, better futures, etc
There are consequences from shopping decisions
Focus is on CoO of the product, not ownership ownership important, but a distraction from CoO
Overseas registration of the logo
The AMAG logo is a registered trade mark in a number of overseas markets:
Singapore
South Korea
China
USA
Establishes formal presence of the logo in each country Provides legal framework in each jurisdiction for protection of the logo and the
products that carry it Government support sought to extend registration to 7
other Asian countries – pending!
Arab Health, Dubai , 2012 Seoul Food Expo, South Korea, 2013
Big 5, Dubai ,2013Expo 2012, Yeosu, Korea, Australian Pavilion
NTUC FairPrice Singapore, Sept 2013
Asia Fruit Logistica – Hong Kong, 2012 Winter Fancy Foods, San Francisco, 2010
(G’Day USA)
Retail bag, World Expo, Shanghai, China, 2010
• China• Australia Made Shop Pty Ltd - chain of AM branded stores
• Oz-Town – new entrant for AM branded stores
• South Korea• SINI Care Australia – chain of AM branded stores
• Singapore• Cold Storage – retail chain licensed to use the logo for their Aussie
house- branded products
• NTUC Fairprice Co-operative – annual AM retail promotion
AMAG logo in overseas retail shops
1. Australia as a supplier of choice
2. The impact of breaches in food safety
3. Labelling standards and changes to regulations
Points of discussion
• Essential strategy for Australian food processors
• Australia’s strong nation brand;
• Recognised high standards – healthy and safe foods;
• Volume limitations on Australian suppliers means we should always pursue high-end niche markets;
• We won’t/can’t be the cheapest.
• Rationale behind the ASA100 initiative with China
1. Australia as a supplier of choice
• Always a big threat in the food sector• volatile product that people consume
• Frozen berries – Patties Foods, Feb 2015• food security issue rather than a CoO labelling
• limitations on our biosecurity resources
• approx $1.5M cost, 9% profit downgrade in 2014/15
• Fonterra’s whey protein botulism scare, Aug 2013• "watershed moment" for Fonterra in terms of food safety
2. Impact of breaches in food safety
• “Fonterra realised in a most profound way that food safety was the one thing without which it was impossible to achieve any other company priority, whether sales and profits, a sound reputation, strong consumer confidence or a secure future on the world stage.”
• “…… Food safety is now assuming its rightful place in the top tier of Fonterra’s priorities.”
(NZ Government Inquiry report)
2. Impact of breaches in food safety (Contd)
3. Labelling standards and changes to regulations
Government’s proposed mandatory ‘contents graphic’
Cabinet decision announcement last week
Response to frozen berries matter – different issue
Mandatory symbol proposed for all packaged foods showing Australian content, by weight
Plus AMAG logo (where product qualifies)
Comments on Government’s contents labelling proposal As always devil in the detail
Proposing to also vary the ‘safe harbour’ provisions for ‘made in’
Removing the 50% value-added test - food and non-food
Strengthening the substantial transformation test
Many issues for the AMAG logo CTM:
consistency between food and non-food sectors – particularly compliance
financial arrangements for use of symbol
application to exported foods in competitive marketplaces
Many issues for AMCL:
Administration of the CTM in the food sector
Scale impact
Financial commitments