A global opportunity for New Zealand’s red meat sector

// International Trade

Over 200 people watched last week’s Global Market and Taste Pure Nature update hosted by Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ), with presenters from ANZCO, B+LNZ and Crafted Communications live from California.

In the wake of COVID-19, the red meat sector remains relatively strong as New Zealand’s grass-fed, safe and sustainable origin story is favoured in a global trend of conscious foodie consumers.

Michael Wan, B+LNZ’s Global Manager – Red Meat Story, who was one of three presenters at the webinar says New Zealand’s red meat sector can capitalise on this ‘window of opportunity’, as consumers worldwide actively seek out healthy, nutritious food.

“As we see consumers become more conscious about what they’re putting into their bodies, they’re seeking out more nutritious food to support their health and wellbeing and boost immunity. New Zealand beef and lamb can meet this need. In terms of New Zealand’s red meat offering, we’ve got a really compelling story to tell.”

Wan says conscious foodies are drawn to the natural taste of grass-fed beef and lamb from New Zealand due largely to the way it was raised.

“They care about the approach we take to farming. Which is very light touch, low intensity, hands off, compared to some of the more industrialized or intensive farming systems around the world.

“They love that the animals are grass-fed year-round in a natural environment, that we’ve got a connected farming community, often family farmers running these farms, who produce this fantastic product that untimely they can eat,” he says.

A global market perspective

Rick Walker, ANZCO’s General Manager Sales and Marketing opened the webinar with a global market perceptive.

Walker says putting aside COVID-19, he remains optimistic about the future of New Zealand’s red meat market for two reasons. Firstly because of the growth in red meat consumption in China, which he says is crucially important to the success of our industry. The second, is New Zealand taking advantage of the wider global trend in favor of grass-fed, safe, sustainable protein.

“COVID-19 is only going to accelerate this trend. This is why ANZCO were early to invest in Taste Pure Nature and why we will continue to work to leverage the origin brand as much as possible.”

“We’re actively working with B+LNZ on co-branding and we’re excited about the opportunities here,” he says.

Taste Pure Nature in the US

This trend towards grass-fed meat is reflected in Taste Pure Nature’s marketing success in the United States (US) presented in the webinar by Kari Ramsey, Senior Vice President of Crafted Communications – our marketing agency in the US.

Kari shared highlights from the US marketing activities. Specifically, the influencers’ familiarization trip to New Zealand which reached more than 40 million people and garnered more than 126,500 social media engagements.

She explained how Taste Pure Nature utilised ‘Earth Day’ to tell New Zealand’s farming story. The nine Instagram posts had 790,900 potential post impressions.

Taste Pure Nature was marketed on Good Morning America in the lead up to the Superbowl by Chef George Duran, generating around 72.5 million online and social reach.

Looking to the future, Kari says they are setting the stage for New Zealand’s sustainability story. A survey about Americans living more sustainably released last week has already generated more than 102 million impressions. It was picked up by 20 placements including AOL and Yahoo! News.

This messaging will also be supported by updating the consumer facing website.

In sharing the metrics, Kari attributes the success to the collaboration across organisations, and telling a real and relevant story to the right audience

Taste Pure Nature in China

Michael Wan closed the webinar by talking about Taste Pure Nature’s pilot launch in China earlier this year.

B+LNZ, in collaboration with ANZCO, Silver Fern Farms and Greenlea and their in-market partner created an in-store retail experience using the Taste Pure Nature origin story.

Wan explained the launch’s initial focus is to build the Taste Pure Nature brand in the digital environment because of the continued growth of mobile engagement in China.

“On average, a person in China spends about 6 hours everyday online, with 83% of users completing purchases using mobile phones and more than 53% of users preferring to share everything they do online through social media.”

Following the pilot launch, Taste Pure Nature is rolling out in more than 200 supermarket stores in the Shandong province.

Wan also highlighted the importance of working together as an export sector to build consumer knowledge about how we produce beef and lamb in New Zealand.

“Building brand awareness and driving consideration for grass-fed meats from New Zealand requires us all to focus. Working in partnership with New Zealand meat companies, such as the current example with Alliance Group, plays an important role in us achieving our collective goals.”

Following the webinar, Michael had an interview with Sarah Perriam on Sarah’s country.

B+LNZ’s National Webinar Series

This webinar is a part of B+LNZ’s new National Webinar series, with the previous Environment Policy Update presentation by Corina Jordan, B+LNZ’s Environmental Policy Manager who outlined the work B+LNZ has been doing on farmers behalf, engaging with the Government and other industry-good organisations to develop pragmatic policy around freshwater and afforestation.

We want to hear from you

Are there any specific topics you would like to hear about as part of our National Webinar Series? Email us with your suggested topics and keep an eye on our Events Calendar for the next update as part of this series.