The NZ Made Year In Review
2019 Milestones and Improvements for 2020
The sole purpose of Buy New Zealand Made is to deliver a market origin advantage to businesses who manufacture in New Zealand. In 2019 the number of businesses with a NZ Made licence increased by 151 (NewstalkZB: NZ Made Celebrates Records Year).
Underpinning the growth were a number of objectives the team focussed on:
Licence Management Platform (LMP) Enhancement
The core product of administering the Kiwi trademark licence to businesses was enhanced in three ways via the Licence Management Platform (LMP):
Custom URL activated for licence holders
- The Custom URL buynz.org.nz/companyname creates a branded destination for companies to list their NZ Made products and is made available to all businesses. 9 out of 10 new applicants activated their Custom URL.
API Integration with New Zealand Business Number
2. API Integration with the New Zealand Business Number increases our ability to cross reference key information such as manufacturing address and whether a company is active.
This is part of the broader strategy to full integrate the Kiwi trademark into the digital platform ecosystem. In 2020 the API Integration undertaken by Stream Interactive will include proactive notification of companies in receivership, liquidation or closure.
NZ Made will also begin building its its own API to allow developers to build in native NZ Made licence status checking capabilities into their own production environments on apps and websites.
New Website Widget for licence holders
3. The Website Widget was rolled out to businesses to add to their website instead of uploading the logo directly. This improves the trust for consumers visiting their website as the website widget automatically links to the buynz.org.nz Custom URL and displays which products are NZ Made licensed products. In 2020 there will be a focus on adherence to this relatively new standard.
Audience Development
Audience development for New Zealand Made businesses has focussed almost entirely on native digital video content for newsfeeds via LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube to New Zealanders living in New Zealand. This is because the attention remains underpriced and so provides outsized value for the businesses that are featured on The Provenance Marketing Show or the Making It New Zealand series.
Outside of the episodic shows outlined in more detail below, limited print media spots were purchased with NZ Hardware Journal and Supermarket News as brand marketing for NZ Made Day. No international audience development were undertaken.
The Provenance Marketing Show reaches 31 episodes
The Provenance Marketing Show featuring NZ Made products launched hosted by the Executive Director Ryan Jennings. It’s released every Tuesday 7pm across all social networks. 32 episodes filmed to date and over 100 NZ Made products featured. The most popular format has been the 60 second short videos shared on LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.
The least watched formats of the show are vertical video on IGTV, audio only on podcast and YouTube. These will be worked on for 2020 either through a different approach such as horizontal format video or a new content vector for the podcast.
The Making It New Zealand Series reaches 56 episodes
The Making It New Zealand Series continues to feature the story of what New Zealand manufacturers are making in New Zealand. Another 15 filmed episodes were around New Zealand bringing the total filmed to 56 episodes. The show will continue to be a focus of New Zealand Made in 2020 with businesses able to purchase an episodes and marketing campaign for $3,400+gst.
New Zealand Made Day Launched on Thursday 21st November 2019
New Zealand Made Day launched to encourage New Zealanders to Buy NZ Made on Thursday 21st November 2019 with the bringing back of a New Zealand Made Merchandise Store.
62 supermarkets labelled their shelves with glance-able shelving tags and 126 businesses promoted their products on nzmadeday.nz.
NZ Made Day in 2020 is on Saturday 21st November 2020 where we will look to build on this years launch with more of the 1,200 businesses leveraging the day.
Licence Applications
A record number of businesses apply to add the Kiwi trademark to products they manufacture in New Zealand. On average a business is applying to add the Kiwi trademark to their product range every 48 hours.
A trademark breach project was undertaken on over 2,500 businesses. 86 we found to be breaching the acceptable use of the Kiwi trademark of which two thirds have been resolved through removal of the breach or an application to legally use the Kiwi trademark.
The Kiwi Branding Edge Book Published
The Kiwi Branding Edge book was launched as an opportunity for businesses to share how they’re using the NZ Made and NZ Grown Kiwi trademark on their products and services. Throughout the 144 pages there are examples of how 70+ businesses have added the Kiwi trademark to the products, packaging, websites and marketing collateral.
In the foreword is a call to arms for manufacturing to look at how to go beyond solely ‘quality’ as a market differentiator as the quality gap is eroded with quality imported alternatives and look to pairing ‘quality’ with another defendable business edge.
Redesigned NZ Made Licence Holder Welcome Pack
The Official NZ Made Licence Holder welcome pack was redesigned to go beyond simply delivering the artwork and certificate of licence to delivering a multi-sensory NZ Made experience relevant to our times. What does that even mean? Well it means a few things…
Show NZ Made To Everyone
The previous welcome pack was shrouded in red plastic from the courier company. While efficient and simple for the courier company, the welcome pack was just another red bag for everyone who touched the welcome pack on its journey from the Buy New Zealand Made headquarters in Wellington to each business throughout New Zealand.
The new welcome pack printed by PakWorld in Christchurch wraps the branding around the entire envelop making it obvious that the contents of this courier delivery is special.
Read NZ Made
The Kiwi Branding Edge book is a branding guideline book that focusses on all the things you can do with the Kiwi trademark. There’s 143 pages of best practice from over 70 NZ Made businesses and one page of rules about what you can’t do.
Touch NZ Made
The order form for labels has gone because it wasn’t easy to match up what the product code was with the size of label needed. Instead its been replaced with a Resene Colour Chart style booklet that shows the exact label size right next to the product code and cost.
Taste NZ Made
Each welcome pack includes a taste of New Zealand. That’s currently the classic Whittakers Peanut Slab. The next product lined up to be included is Solomon’s Gold chocolate. From there we’ll keep switching up the taste for newly approved NZ Made licence holders.
Hold NZ Made
Each welcome pack includes a 16 Gb memory card in the shape of a key so that the digital artwork is always with you, right on your key ring.
Listen NZ Made
Also on the key ring is a free audiobook of 100% Kiwi Business recorded in New Zealand at Matrix Studios. This audiobook explores the 9 Kiwi Success Navigators used by 100 Kiwi business owners interviewed for the book.
See NZ Made
The Certificate of Licence provides each business the opportunity to display their credential proudly in the reception, office or boardroom of their organisation.
While not new, we have added a special foil in the top right hand corner for businesses that have been an active licence holder for 10, 20 or 25+ years.
Sustainable NZ Made
The welcome pack is made entirely from FSC certified cardboard from sustainable sources. There’s a wooden coaster made from Paulownia grown in New Zealand and etched with the Kiwi trademark.
All the NZ Made labels are almost entirely paper. They’re packaged together in a small plastic bag to say that what we need is every business to do something that’s a little more sustainable not a few businesses to do everything sustainable.
Share NZ Made
Enclosed in every welcome pack is a redeemable voucher for $180+gst to spend on any of the Buy New Zealand Made services. This special voucher is only redeemable once and only on successful referral of a business that the recipient would like to see as an Official New Zealand Made Licence Holder.
This is a new referral campaign and will help ensure that the applications we receive are from organisations that an existing business already has a degree of trust in.
Crazy One Offs
We did a few crazy one off projects throughout the year too because marketing should be remarkable.. meaning that someone should remark about it. Marketing doesn’t have to be boring.
The NZ Made Beer Project
Thanks to North End Brewing we launched our very own NZ Made Pilsner beer for distribution to some our longest serving active licence holders.
The NZ Made Caps Project
Two caps were manufactured by Hills Hats to very different specifications. The 1988 NZ Made Trucker Cap brought back a classic from the 80’s merchandise list.
The 2019 NZ Made Merino Cap capitalised on Kathmandu’s intent to manufacture new lines of their apparel back in New Zealand and the merino was sourced from them.
Looking Eastward in 2020
I took a trip to Shanghai to the China International Import Exhibition and believe this is will become a key export market for cross border ecommerce from New Zealand for NZ Made licence holders.
While very early days, a working group has been started to see the level of interest in New Zealand Made offering a direct China Commerce Corridor that opens up the east for our licence holders to sell to Chinese consumers.
Summary Going Into 2020
We’ve invested in the Licence Management Platform that drives our core capabilities. We’ve standardised how the Kiwi trademark is presented digitally across our 1,200 licence holders through the website widget and we’ve augmented that presence with an audience development strategy that almost solely relies on audience engagement through watching digital shoes on their newsfeed.
We’ve further enhanced the experience for new licence holders with the Official NZ Made Licence Holder Welcome Pack and we’ve gone beyond simple branding guidelines by launching The Kiwi Branding Edge into New Zealand bookstores. We’ve launched the first NZ Made Day setting the groundwork for a similar event in 2020.
The Next Decade for NZ Made — Where Might It Go?
- New Zealand becomes a haven for the ‘Zero Carbon Consumer’ who only purchases products that are net carbon zero. The new status symbol of luxury for the high net worth makes entirely new product categories viable to produce in New Zealand.
- A resurgence in New Zealand apparel manufacturing as wages rise in Asia and NZ manufacturing costs fall through automation.
- NZ Made Day becomes a big export earner for New Zealand businesses with manufacturers, retailers and producers collectively selling over $100 million of goods on the day.
- NZ Grown extracts with high active ingredient levels will become a big player in the global pharmaceutical sector. Companies such as Kiwi Herb and Helius Therapeutics will become the darlings of the NZX50 stock exchange.
- New Zealand becomes predator free in 12 major cities creating a tourism boom for those cities that creates a halo effect for service businesses who manufacture products that contribute to the re-greening of New Zealand’s environment.
Where Do You See New Zealand Going?
Comment below which of the above 5 you agree or disagree with? Where do you see New Zealand going over the next ten years?
