Timbmet Group chief executive Simon Fineman strongly backed wood. for good and generic timber advertising at the American Hardwood Export Council European convention last week.

Mr Fineman was one of the panel in a “question time market debate” at the event in Venice. He was responding to a question from the floor on the future of timber promotion in Europe and the role in marketing of national and international trade associations.

He said that the timber industry generally had not devoted enough time and money to promotion and that the wood. for good campaign had demonstrated the value of generic advertising.

“As an industry, we never do enough to promote ourselves,” he said. “But wood. for good is clearly firing up demand in the UK.”

&#8220As an industry, we never do enough to promote ourselves”

Simon Fineman, chief executive, Timbmet

Mr Fineman questioned whether the timber industry had its priorities right in the balance of funding support it gave to marketing and to trade associations.

“Timbmet as a company is equally guilty – we currently give four times as much to our trade association as we do to the wood. for good campaign,” he said. “We’re wondering whether it shouldn’t be the other way around.”

The chairman of the question time panel, Jamey French of Kingston, New Hampshire-based Northland Forest Products, agreed that “we must generically promote our products” while a speaker from the floor mentioned that the Belgian timber industry was launching its own marketing venture. The Belgian Wood Forum will have an annual budget of €2.5m.