Manitoba Pork Council and Edge Business Strategies- February 1st 2010
The Manitoba Pork Council and Edge Business Strategies of Winnipeg joined forces this past year to both urge the hog industry forward into a new public light, and to help forge a more sustainable future for the producers within it. From left to right are: Elizabeth Mitchell, Marketing Strategist with Edge Business Strategies, Kelly Funke, Manager of Communications and Media Programs with the Manitoba Pork Council, and Robert Mensies, Principal and Creative Director with Edge Business Strategies.
BY KIM LANGEN
They aren’t farmers themselves, but a marketing group in Winnipeg wants to bring farm families into the homes of everyday Manitobans so we can all get acquainted.
Not at the table, of course, but through a new internet website that will allow consumers in the city to really see the folks who are out there, working hard to produce top-quality pork, raising their own families, and living their lives pretty much like any one else in the province of Manitoba. They want to bring the two together and change the image – and the future – of pork producers.
“Our mandate is to turn around the minds of Manitobans to the industry,” said Elizabeth Mitchell, Marketing Strategist with Edge Business Strategies. “I don’t want the producers to hurt any more. They have suffered enough. From here on, let’s go forward. Manitoba pork producers are coming from a negative position in the way they are viewed by urbanites, and our aim is to first get them to a neutral position. From there we will move them to a positive place in the eyes of the consumer.”
The upcoming website, ‘The Family Behind the Farm’, is scheduled to come onstream by the spring of 2010, and is just one part of Edge’s multi-pronged campaign to move the industry into a warmer light, and one with dollar signs. They will also be targetting education, through Ag in the Classroom, running creative ad campaigns through various media genres, and by updating consumer packaging and promotional material for pork products. And they plan to win.
“Manitoba produces the best pork in the world,” said Mitchell. “I know this from the research that we have done this past year. I want producers to put out this positive message. One of the big issues they face is that there is a disconnect between urbanites and pork producers. We need to build a positive connection between the two. We need Manitobans to take pride in their pork industry.”
Producer families
The company is currently lining up a number of pork producer families from around the province who will appear on the website, ‘familybehindthefarm.ca’, and whose members will be interviewed, photographed, and profiled to showcase both their good animal husbandry and their family life.
“It will be an on-going farm family story, and we will build on these families. Urbanites can get to know the family behind the farm,” said Mitchell, who came up with the website idea along with colleague Robert Mensies, Principal and Creative Director at Edge Business Strategies. Both realized the opportunities and benefits that it would bring to the table.
For Mensies, a project that started out as simply business soon became something deeper. He originally put together a marketing proposal for the Manitoba Pork Council in late 2008, with an eye to improving their public image, and the council took on Edge as promotional partners. But as he learned more about the plight of farmers, Mensies’ determination became stronger.
“Initially it was just business,” said Mensies, who comes from a small rural town outside Winnipeg. “But as we did our research, and learned about what it means to the province, it made me care even more. I personally want to make a difference now. When we hear now that farmers are calling up the Pork Council on a daily basis, and saying they are giving up and going bankrupt, that’s when the emotions hit you.”
Edge accepted the role of marketing strategists for the Manitoba Pork Council, and will continue to work for the 800 hog farmers of the province – and the entire industry itself – for as long as they need them, they said.
“We want to focus on the positive,” said Mensies. “And there are so many positives in the pork industry. It’s also the challenge that attracts us. There are organisations against the industry. It’s all about getting the urban public to relate to the pork industry and the people and families that make up the industry. Returning sustainability to the pork industry is our main goal.”
After beginning the marketing project in early 2009, Edge first investigated systems of pork production in other countries.
“The first step was research in the first world,” said Mitchell. “We looked at hog producers and the issues that they face, and the similarities between them and Manitoban producers. We looked at the different solutions that they have found to overcome the challenges that they face. These were countries such as Australia, Denmark, the U.S., and the U.K. who are like Canada because their challenges are similar. We looked at strengths and weaknesses around the world.”
The end goal is to get pork producers back into profit, she said. And to stay that way.
Driving the change
They are also seeking to draw more pork producers into the fold of the Manitoba Pork Council, including those on the production fringe. If everyone pulls together, change will happen more readily, she said.
“The Manitoba Pork Council is working for all producers, including the niche pork producers such as specialty breeds,” she said. “And we want to pull together the people who are stakeholders in the pork industry – the pork producers, processors, retailers, and those who supply to the industry. That’s because they are going to drive the change, from a negative perception to a positive one. It’s the industry itself that’s going to drive the change.”
Their multi-media creative ad campaign is set to run throughout Winnipeg and rural communities immediately, and has been designed by Edge to draw in consumers on a personal level.
“These are ads that will create heartfelt emotional bonds between themselves and producers,” said Mitchell. “They will see that, hey, pork producers are people like me.”
An element of the Manitoba Pork logo has also been adjusted, with an emphasis on the word ‘Manitoba’ rather than ‘Pork’.
“We redesigned the logo because this is Manitoba pork, not just any old pork,” said Mitchell. “And we added a tagline underneath that says, ‘Locally grown. Globally preferred.’ That’s because Manitoba produces the world’s favorite pork.”
Positive images
Plans are underway to expand the industry’s role in Ag in the Classroom in the 2010 – 2011 school year on a province-wide level, said Mitchell. The Council has been core sponsors for a number of years. “We will be incorporating a new, specific project that will involve the direct participation of high school students around the province.”
Edge’s drive and desire for a newer, positive image for the hog sector is shared by Manitoba Pork Council’s new communications manager, who was drawn to Pork Council for the same reasons. Kelly Funke, who served on the Canola Council for nine years as editor of in-house publication Canola Digest, left that group in September, 2008, to take up her new role as Manitoba Pork Council’s Manager of Communications and Media Programs. She was looking for a challenge, she said, and she found it within the pork sector.
“It was a challenging time for them, and that appealed to me,” said Funke, who holds a degree in journalism from Carleton University. “I believe in farmers, and the important job that they do in our world. When you see these people that we believe in, that are stuggling, you want to lend your own skills, and try to help them.”
Funke, who works on producer relations, and oversees both public relations for the industry and all council communications, said that all the focus up to that point had been on Bill 17. It was time for the industry, which brings a billion dollars into the provincial economy annually, and provides 13,000 jobs for Manitobans and new immigrants, to ‘move forward’, she said. The quality of pigs in Manitoba is ranked amongst the top in Canada, and only three percent of it is eaten here in the province. The rest is exported, which is why trade is so critical.
“We needed to look at the larger picture, and talk about our strengths, and what we provide to the province,” she said. “We provide jobs for Manitobans, and bring in immigrants and new energy because of the pork industry. And we provide infrastructure in the province, such as Brandon and Neepawa. They each have a pork processing plant, and both have required significant upgrades to waste water treatment. The entire community has benefitted from it. This wouldn’t have occurred without these plants being there. And we provide local food to Manitobans.”
Leaner and meaner
Casualties of the crisis were inevitable, however, but Funke believes a new, sustainable industry will evolve from this unexpected crucible of change.
“We’ll emerge leaner, meaner and a more efficient industry. And I’m sure that’s what everybody in the industry wants to see,” Funke said.
Factors such as the strong Canadian dollar, Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) in the U.S., feed price increases, and internationally low hog prices have all contributed to the the near-collapse of the hog market, but one more obstacle reared its head to further damage the industry, said Funke.
“In March it looked like things were looking up, but then the H1N1 pandemic came, and that was it,” Funke said. “That was the icing on the cake, and now it’s a lingering psychological influence.”
Despite these hurdles, the Manitoba Pork Council is working hard for producers, she said, to constantly improve the industry in every way.
“The Pork Council funds research – we are always looking for a better way. For transport, for handling, housing, manure management – these are the big ones,” said Funke. “During the ad campaign, it’s important to have producers out front. There are bridges that need to be built, and we need more pork purchased. I would like to see Manitobans have an open mind, and be proud of their pork, and buy it in the stores. And I want to ensure that the industry operates successfully, and that individual producers are successful. That means some are leaving, and I just hope we emerge on the other side as a better industry.”
The move forward that both the Manitoba Pork Council and Edge are seeking means a re-think on how the Pork Council communicates with the public, and Funke said that they were happy to join forces with Edge to find this new path.
“What I like about Edge is that they ‘own’ this. They have bought in, and it’s more than just a job,” she said. “Every time we bring a concern to them, they are just as concerned as we are, such as when we see something negative in the press.”
The team at Edge have no doubt there will be an improvement in the lives and fortunes of pork producers.
“I feel blessed to be a part of the industry at this critical time,” said Mitchell, “because they are up against the wall. And to be part of the solution is phenomenol. I know we will succeed because I believe that the producers themselves are ready to take part in driving the change. Together we can make it happen.”
