Will Uamby's PR effort work?

We figured we needed to lift our public profile to help us with the Catchment Management Authority's Farming Systems project. (The CMA is looking to fund innovative farmers who can help them spread the word about new approaches to farming that can help restore health to the soil.) So this press release was sent to the editor of Australia's leading agricultural newspaper, The Land. Did it work? Stay tuned...



PRESS RELEASE - Wool needs marketing brains trust, says expert

Australia’s best marketing minds should be put to work to solve the crisis in the wool industry, says marketing expert and worried woolgrower Michael Kiely. “Australia has some of the best marketers in the world: John Singleton, Gerry Harvey, Aussie John Simons, ex-Woolworths CEO Paul Simons, to name a few. Put them all in a room for two hours and let them loose on the problem,” he says. “ They would be proud to serve on the National Marketing Brains Trust for the wool industry.”

The crisis in wool is a national crisis and needs to be addressed as a national priority by the highest levels of government and industry, he says.

“Wool’s major problem is lack of demand. The solution: create demand, ie. Marketing. The marketing to date? Look at the scoreboard: the price you are getting for your wool. Marketing to date has failed. And when you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you always got. It’s time for a 180° change.”

Kiely, a woolgrower from Gulgong, is a 20-year vetetran of Australian marketing. He includes among his clients Toyota, Macquarie Bank, and Hyatt. His monthly commentary in Marketing magazine has been appearing for 20 years.

“If I was Ian McLachlan I would do what every successful general has done – concentrate maximum pressure on one key strategic point to achieve a breakthrough. And that strategic point for wool is “natural”. Wool is a living fibre. Synthetics are made from petrochemicals. Wool is grown by individuals and families who care. Petrochemicals are made by corporations which do not. Wool has soul. Synthetics have none.”

The new brand positioning line could read: “Australian Wool: Made by Mother Nature.”

To sell this proposition, Kiely suggests recruiting the hippest celebrities – hot young movie stars, rap artists, models, young entrepreneurs, people that youth look up to and follow – and feature the ones willing to say they wouldn’t wear synthetics and prefer wool. The campaign slogan? “Wool is Cool…so what are you wearing?”

“Australia has a large number of world renowned celebrities: film stars, rock stars, sports stars, fashion gurus, etc. They should be recruited like the marketing brains trust - as part of a national emergency team to rescue one of Australia’s greatest assets and national icons: the wool industry,” he says.

Kiely is full of praise for Australian Wool Innovation’s initiatives to date: “Eliminating the barriers to purchase – product disadvantages like how it feels against the skin – and creating more reasons to buy by offering new blends and new products are all essential activities to be done before the marketing break through can occur. AWI should be applauded for its initiatives.”

“But they are wasted effort so long as the fundamental driving force is missing: demand for the product. People have got to want wool. To make wool attractive to the masses you’ve got to start with the style-setters – the elite who the rest follow like sheep.”

Mr Kiely does not expect Australian Wool Innovation to welcome his contribution. “They are the victims of unreal expectations among growers. We all own this problem. The more ideas we get on the table, the more we talk and think marketing, the closer wed get to actually doing it.,” he says.