The Fairtrade Foundation
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
MARKETING EXCELLENCE The Fairtrade Foundation Marketing for a better world headline sponsor Marketing Excellence | Foreword Foreword By Amanda Mackenzie What is marketing excellence? Marketing excellence can drive breakthrough business They have established this reputation over a period results for the short and long-term. Marketing of more than 28 years, and they have always been excellence requires great strategic thinking, great based on the principle of searching out the best creative thinking and perfect execution. examples of different marketing techniques in action, that showcase great strategic thinking, great But how do we assess marketing excellence? First we creativity and perfect execution. choose brilliant industry judges who are all experienced and successful practitioners of excellence and we In order to be a winner of one of the Society’s Amanda Mackenzie, ask them to pick out the cases which they see as Awards, marketers have to demonstrate that what President of The remarkable. We ask them to look for two key qualities they have done is outstanding in comparison with Marketing Society from our winners: creativity and effectiveness. marketing in all industries not just their own and Chief Marketing particular sector. & Communications But marketing continuously changes and evolves, as Officer at Aviva consumers become more sophisticated and demanding If a marketing story has been good enough to impress and the media for communicating with them ever more our judges, then all marketers can learn from it – diverse. So the standards for marketing excellence however senior they have become. The collection change and in turn become more demanding. of case histories brought together here is the best of the best from the past two years of our Awards, and We believe that The Marketing Society Awards for I am confident that it truly demonstrates marketing Excellence in association with Marketing set the excellence. I have been truly inspired by these standard of marketing excellence in the UK. case studies and I hope you will be too. Marketing for a better world | The Fairtrade Foundation | Marketing for Sustainable Consumption | 3 The Fairtrade Foundation Marketing for a better world Snapshot The Fairtrade Foundation’s far-reaching marketing strategy gave the brand renewed impetus without alienating its grassroots campaigners. Key insights Summary • The Fairtrade Foundation created a marketing The fair trade movement in the UK goes back more function in a bid to re-energise its brand and broaden than 19 years. Its roots lie with a group of concerned its global reach among consumers and business citizens who wanted to form fairer trading links to give partners while staying true to its core principles. a better deal to those at the end of the international • The subsequent brand revamp and campaigns, supply chains. These pioneering consumers and both offline and online, were developed alongside businesses created a social movement which raised in-depth consumer research to produce actionable awareness of unfair trade and helped create a market segmentation. for ethical products. • The result was a step-change in brand awareness, familiarity and value among consumers and In the first decade, the emergence of a single Fairtrade businesses, a consolidation of its trusted position mark and the energy of the social movement together and a re-engagement with its grassroots movement. led to a force with huge potential to transform the trade landscape. However, by 2007, less than £500 million worth of Fairtrade goods were sold in the UK. So, in 2007 the Fairtrade Foundation brought in a marketing function to reposition the Fairtrade brand for the public and develop a compelling proposition for businesses to join the movement and help grow it. 4 | Marketing for Sustainable Consumption | The Fairtrade Foundation | Marketing for a better world civil society that demanded that products should be sourced from developing countries on terms that would empower impoverished farmers to work their own way out of poverty. 1994 – 2002 2002 – 2008 With a mark to show ethically-minded consumers that the products guaranteed a fairer deal for farmers, the Fairtrade movement created 2008 – 2010 2011 onwards a mental shortcut, or brand, which became the gold standard in a burgeoning ethical sector. Figure 1. Emergence of an international brand It also united the separate country movements under one mark so Fairtrade could go global The results were definitive. With a limited budget, as a labelling option for multinational companies Fairtrade globalised the brand, found an accessible (Figure 1). tone of voice, made its understanding of the ethical consumer more sophisticated, took its communities Awareness, familiarity and sales grew steadily, online, refocused its campaigners and translated all thanks to campaigners. As supply chains became this into a successful commercial proposition. more established, availability of products and traded volumes began to hit critical mass. The A changing context support of key retailers such as the Co-operative The Fairtrade Foundation was founded in 1988 in and Sainsbury’s made core Fairtrade products like response to the growing grassroots movement in coffee and bananas available (Figure 2). £1,500 1500 1400 Gold £1,320 Cosmetics 1200 Cotton products £1,172 Flowers Other food and drinks 1000 Fruits, vegetables and juices Chocolate £836 Hot beverages 800 Estimated sales £689 Sales in £ millions 600 £493 High 400 £285 Connected £193 200 £140 Champions £92 17% £22 £33 £50 £63 0 Busy 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Passersby (est.) 22% Figure 2. SalesFigure of2 – UK Sales Fairtrade of UK Fairtrade products products Prosperous Onlookers 14% Solo Supporters Behave (Buy & Tell) Resolute 21% Cynics 10% Hard-pressed Bystanders 17% 100 80 Negative Neutral Positive 60 Believe (Fairtrade & Wider Ethics) 40 Percentage of surveyed 20 0 Awareness Trust Familiarity Active Choice Figure 17 – Growth in awareness, familiarity, trust and active choice (Globescan) 2008 2010 2011 Marketing for a better world | The Fairtrade Foundation | Marketing for Sustainable Consumption | 5 By 2008/9 the sales outlook was positive, but signs The Foundation moved quickly and successfully were that future growth was not going to be easy. from an inconsistent base to a global brand within The UK was in recession, businesses were cutting 12 months, despite notable obstacles not typically costs and consumer concerns were increasingly close found in the private sector, such as: to home. Fairtrade was no longer alone in the market. • The lack of a ‘head office’ to direct content and A new marketing strategy was needed if Fairtrade implementation. Fairtrade International in Bonn has was to scale up volume and go mainstream. a central co-ordinating role, but the international network operates as a federation rather than a Taking the brand global hierarchy. With separate founding members, boards Globalising the Fairtrade brand was an appropriate and budgets in each market, participation in a project starting point for expanding the brand and approaching like this and compliance was entirely voluntary. mainstream markets for a number of reasons: • The politics of Fairtrade are different in different • Global brands looking to build purpose into their brands countries, with variances culturally specific and wanted a globally-consistent certifier, so marketing often emotive. Messaging in Austria, for example, campaigns could be replicated across borders. had focused on child labour while in South Africa • Because of cash limitations in each Fairtrade market, black empowerment was a priority. In France, investing in quality brand development was only Fairtrade is positioned as a real alternative to feasible with combined budgets. conventional trade, not as a partner of • Financial constraints meant that ‘stealing with pride’ multinationals. The Swiss, on the other hand, was imperative for smaller markets to access good position Fairtrade as a corporate solution. marketing assets from larger markets. So messaging, • Awareness of Fairtrade in different markets varies design and imagery needed to be consistent. greatly, from single digit awareness in markets such as Poland and South Korea to 90% in the UK. This called for more basic communication of what Fairtrade is in some markets, with a greater need for emotional connection in others. The guidelines managed to walk the line between global consistency and appropriate flexibility in implementation, based on the shared vision (see ‘A shared vision’). They were adopted fully in all markets, from the most established like the UK to the least like South Korea (Figures 3 and 4). Figure 3. New international brand identity 6 | Marketing for Sustainable Consumption | The Fairtrade Foundation | Marketing for a better world Figure 4. New international brand Figure 5. The Big Swap for Fairtrade Fortnight 2010 enough to galvanise supporters while convincing A shared vision mainstream brands that Fairtrade could fit with Fairtrade’s vision is for a world in which all producers their brand positioning. can enjoy secure and sustainable livelihoods, fulfil their potential and decide on their future. The result was a creative strategy to make it stand out from increasingly generic development Our aspiration: To transform global trade by communication and appeal to less committed, promoting fairer trading conditions. To achieve this positively pre-disposed shoppers. The first campaign,