Canada must build brand identity for Canadian pork

Capturing even slightly more of expanding world markets with strongly branded Canadian pork products could be worth billions of dollars to the Canadian pork industry, representatives of two of Canada's largest pork processors told an industry conference here Wednesday.

Capturing even five percent of the enormous European Union market, for example, would represent one million metric tonnes of added Canadian pork exports annually Richard Davies, Executive Vice-President, sales and marketing with Olymel S.E.C. told more than 700 producers and industry representatives at the 32nd annual Banff Pork Seminar. Olymel, with pork processing facilities in Quebec and Alberta, is one of Canada's largest pork processors.

That kind of growth in exports, which would more than double Canada's current export figures, depends not only on improved market access, but also on developing a strong brand identity for the Canadian product. Much the way Banff's rugged wilderness beauty has earned worldwide brand recognition, he said the Canadian pork industry needs to develop similar brand recognition for producing healthy high quality meat products.

When consumers here, in Japan, the U.S. or Europe see the Canadian name on pork products they need to immediately associate that with high quality, assured food safety and excellent value said Davies and Michael Detlefsen, President of Maple Leaf Foods International in their respective presentations.

Canadian pork has a good reputation among world retailers and consumers, but it needs to be positioned and appreciated as a premium product, Davies said. While a move by some countries to implement Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) could be harmful to Canadian pork marketing efforts, Davies said on the flipside, it could be a tool to position a high quality, higher value Canadian product on world retail shelves.

A national effort, involving all sectors of the Canadian industry as well as government, is working to develop an even stronger generic brand Canada pork. "As a country and as an industry we have a strong story to tell the world," he said. "We have a good product, it is safe and healthy and we need to convey that message. Developing a strong brand is not an easy, or cheap process, but once it is established it is an enormously powerful marketing tool."

The move to strengthen the generic brand for Canadian pork was encouraged by the federal Agricultural Policy Framework and led to the development of the International Branding Working Group (IBWG). That collaboration of industry and government officials has drawn input from a number of sources to develop a National Branding Strategy that will be launched this spring.

At the same time, the National Pork Value Chain Roundtable, representing all aspects of the industry including producers, processors, traders, industry suppliers as well as federal and provincial governments, is thoroughly reviewing the Canadian pork industry.

"The process is looking at what the Canadian pork industry is, where are the key markets, who are the main competitors and where we need to eventually be," said Davies. "We need to find ways to differentiate the Canadian pork product from other products."

Developing a strong Canada brand pork is much like riding the surf, said Detlefsen. "The move to develop a Canada brand is the wave and the surfers are the various industry players such as Maple Leaf and Olymel who will position their own specific product brands in these markets," he said.

Worldwide research shows that strong product brands have three times the earnings of weak brands. He pointed to Maple Leaf's pork and poultry Medallion and Prime brand names, respectively, which are produced without the use of animal by-products in feed. "These products are targeted at a specific consumer market," he said. A strong generic brand identity lets consumers know Canada has high quality products and along with that are specific brand name company products which address specific markets."

Making these branded products a success requires a united effort by all industry players from producers through to processors and marketers, he said. "If we are going to keep pace with our competitors in other countries we need to develop new products and producers need to be part of that process."

The Banff Pork Seminar is co-ordinated by the Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Sciences, University of Alberta, in co-operation with Alberta Pork, Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development and other pork industry representatives.

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