Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Case Study: Genuinely Southern Forests, south Western Australia
Manjimup in Western Australia was traditionally a lumber town, but with the decline of the
timber industry the local residents needed to reinvent the area to guarantee a viable future.
It is a region where more products are grown than almost any other part of Australia. It was
already well known as being the home of 'Pink Lady Apples' and 'Black Truffles. The farming
community decided to group together to develop a marketing brand that would allow them
to promote the region rather than individual farm enterprises.
The brand slogan is 'Genuine fresh local produce from Genuine down-to-earth locals.
The first stage was to develop a brand that all parties could agree to and from that a brand
mark or logo was designed that could be used by all members of the community whose pro-
duce adheres to a brand code of practice or brand criteria that was established to ensure brand
integrity was maintained. This provided the group with a united brand presence in the market
place and the opportunity to develop a reputation for quality and diversity of their produce, as
part of this united brand. The marketing is evolving to an internal/external approach both within
the region and beyond, and to date has included broader marketing including billboards on
the major highway to the south-west tourist area, a magazine insert in the state newspaper
with a circulation of over 300,000 copies, regional radio and television advertising to build local
passion and involvement. Marketing has also commenced with retailers, including smaller inde-
pendent and the larger supermarkets, with the aim to build the brand and promote the amazing
produce to consumers who will enjoy the produce and then ultimately look to discover the re-
gion as 'food' tourists. In the future the plan is to develop a food trail for visitors based on the
brand amongst many other aspects, and to create a world class culinary tourism destination.
Fig. 8.5.
Southern Forest Food Group cover of newspaper insert in
The West Australian
newspaper in March 2014.
