New Zealand and Fonterra would come out ‘clean’: MTI
The brand New Zealand and Fonterra will come out ‘clean’ from the recent crisis of whey protein producing a bacteria that could case a rare illness called botulism, MTI, a strategy consultant outfit which has operations in Asia and Middle East said.
“Product re-calls are an inevitable part of l argescale global manufacturing and consumers are increasingly being exposed to such re-calls across many categories. Think of Coke, Nestle, Toyota, J&J to name some of the prominent cases.
“What is important is to differentiate between willful sabotage or cheat- ing like the recent case of Horse Meat labeled as beef in Europe against genuine mistakes for which the consumer would ‘pardon’ if the brand is trusted,” MTI Chief Executive Hilmy Cader said.
He went on to explain that a brand is like a P&L where the currency is trust and therefore brand New Zealand and Fonterra and their products are likely to have a relatively low impact and a fast recovery period.
“From a global perspective, Brand New Zealand has always been a source of highly trusted, clean, safe and environmentally-friendly prod- ucts, with an unblemished track record. Brand New Zealand does not suffer from any sensitive international political perceptions that can impact commercially.
All this means that the brand New Zealand has a high level of ‘trust’ on their ‘consumer balance sheet’, which can certainly help to withstand the impact from such a crisis. In Sri Lanka, brand New Zealand has exceptionally high brand equity due to the Anchor brand,” Cader said.
He believes what will assist brand New Zealand is the approach of their government in being sincere in admitting and alerting the global consumer on the mistake and have not tried to disguise or distort the truth, which is one of the biggest mistake in corporate disaster management.
He noted that with the swift action on the part of Fonterra to re-call the products and the opening up of a dialogue with the consumer will certainly give greater consumer confidence.
“The sheer strength of the Anchor brand—based on the trust it has created and delivered to Sri Lankan consumers in the last 30 years—will be the best ‘insurance policy’ for a brand in such a turbulent period. Meanwhile, other brands trying to capitalize on another brand’s problems, should note that brands can only be built on one’s own strength and value proposition you offer and not by ‘preying’ on such a crisis,” Cader added.