John Kissock (Scottish Forestry & Timber Technology Advisory Group): We really must up the marketing ante. We’ve been incredibly lucky in the loyal support we’ve had for Wood for Good, but it’s the same people putting their hands in their pockets year after year. Long term that’s not sustainable. My objective is to try and spread the load when firmly established and to raise more than our current £400,000, which for an industry our size is a very small amount.
I also don’t think we should be thinking purely in terms of marketing at Wood for Good. We should also embrace education, continue professional development, online learning and working with the initiatives like the Wood Awards to communicate the benefits of timber. And we need to deliver to more than just the people with a high level of understanding. We need to reach white van man and the guy on the sales desk, so they’re more knowledgeable.
John White (Timber Trade Federation): It is hard to get the industry’s wallets open but we have to get over the message that no-one else is going to do this for us. It has to be understood that generic marketing is part and parcel of what we need to do to sell our products.
Through the Norton House process, bringing together bodies from across the industry, we are making progress in education and training, working with Proskills, and in public relations. But the other area we still really need to address is public affairs. Our efforts are still very fragmented, especially on the big climate change.
Peter Travis (+Travis): The timber industry has always struggled with funding promotion, either generic or product. Until margins get bigger that will continue to be the case. But there is now the exciting opportunity offered by mobile and digital communication and social networking where a marketing campaign does not need millions of pounds to make a huge impact with a large number of people very quickly. I think this offers the timber industry a potentially incredibly valuable new media to communicate its sustainability message in particular and needs to be addressed.
Andrew Scoones (Building Centre): In my experience the best ever building products marketing campaign was Brick is Beautiful. It was simple but incredibly powerful and has had a lasting impact on planning of the built environment. But from an outsiders view, Wood for Good is also an extremely good brand that should be built on. And, here again, your industry needs to tackle its fragmentation, which is perceived to be a weakness in the wider building products market. A contrast is the concrete, cement and mineral products industry, which has achieved greater cohesion and consequently marketing funding that is quite impressive. Your story doesn’t need to be complex. All I need to know as a neutral consumer is that we’re going to have more forests, producing more timber in the future. It would just make me happy to know that and is a message that would satisfy a lot of people.
