NEW ZEALAND MEAT.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LI, Issue 16630, 9 January 1925, Page 6

NEW ZEALAND MEAT.

KEEN DEMAND IN ENGLAND. VALUE OF ADVERTISING DISPLAYS. One of the matt ere which Mr. D. Jones, cliairman of the New Zealand Meat Producers’ Board, specially investigated when lie, was in England recently, was the question of advertising New Zealand meat. This matter was also discussed at the annual meeting of delegates to elect the board, which was held in August last. Mr. Jones has now prepared a report to the board on this subject, which reads as follows : ‘‘ln advertising there are two classes of people we want to reach —the butcher who sells our goods, and the consumer. Our meat requires no advertising amongst the butchers. New Zealand mutton and lamb stands in a class by itself. It is in the meat trade what the Rolls Boyce is amongst motor-cars, and the butcher will give preference to our mutton and lamb all the time, other tilings being equal. The best illustration of how the butchers value our meat a»s an advertisement, is that I have not seen (and an many towns in England I have watched for it), any other imported frozen meat marked up in a butcher’s shop with the country of origin stated except. New Zealand. In almost every case when th'e butchfei' is. selling New Zealand 1 mutton mid lamb he puts the fact, up in large letters—it’s the recognised hall mark of quality. “My opinion is that, no article of food in England gets the nmohVit of free advertising in the right place as is given to New Zealand' Canterbury lamb. In the month’s menu.', of the Daily Mail, with a circulation of 1,800,000 copies, there appeared on October j, 1924, the following under meat; Beef, mutton, pork, Veil, venison, N.Z. lamb. Sitting down to dinner oh the American liner the first night’s chief joint was ‘Canterbury lamb,’ and , the following night, ‘".Welsh lamb.’ Such advertisements, won by sheer merit are invalu- t able.

"In entering upon a big advertising campaign it. is essential that the purchaser can identify the article advertised. When meat is cut up into joints, chops, etc., it loses its identity unless it. bears a brand (and for many reasons it is not considered advisable to disfigure our meat with brands). The main point with the consumer ie not whether it is New Zealand, Australian, Argentine, or English meat, but is it a. first-class article that eats well, and brings the purchaser back to the butcher, not to growl, but to ask for the same article! again. “Newspaper advertising in Great Britain is exceedingly expensive, and 1 am convinced we eoiildl spend many thousands a. year of the producers’ hardearned money without getting value for the expenditure. This, of course, does not suggest dispensing with advertising. W T e should continue sending out the single carcasses of lamb l'or 33s to any part of Britain. The acknowledgements corning .in ptov'e tfnit this system is carrying Ihe TjUulily of our lamb into an ever-widening field, and creating a demand in many places where it was previously unknown.

“Last season one London ropresenlaiive, Mr. Forsyth, arranged for displays of lamb (specially piekuu in New Zealand for the purpose) in several of the leading chops in Jhmdon. The butchers wove keen to get the displays as an advertisement, and the Dominion reaped (ho advantage. lam convinced that these displays arc) one of the most valuable advertising mediums that we possess, and can be carried through, at a small cost. I would suggest that we advise freezing works and A. and B. shows that the board is prepared to arrange London displays of picked carcasses, passed by the hoard’s supervising graders. The meat would require to be sold to the shops at a moderate price, not above fair average price of the day, the London office to fix such price, and take into consideration that the factory or the Dominion in obtaining a vn.luahie advertisement. ’’