Bord Bia

bob charles

spending in the region of €45million pa (last accounts I saw), do you think Bord Bia is doing a good job promoting your section of agriculture? Are we getting value for money?

keep going

the main benifit to the country is it keeps so many off the live register:rolleyes:

Conmaicne Mara

Rant incoming.

I'd get rid of them for this alone:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86X0abGN3yU

Or is it just me that finds that terribly misleading & annoying?

But if it was all down to the rain sure we should have had lambs the size of elephants with sugar syrup dripping out of them the past two years!

Yes, lambs love nothing more than the constant goodness of being wet and eating grass with that much water in it I'm surprised it doesn't flow downhill.

Or maybe I'm just getting old & cranky :rolleyes:

flatout11

bob charles wrote: »

spending in the region of €45million pa (last accounts I saw), do you think Bord Bia is doing a good job promoting your section of agriculture? Are we getting value for money?

in short no .... but it is undoubtly not an easy job - however the way they portray irish agriculture is patronising TBH, Conmaicne Mara provided an example is classic of the dribble they are producing,
After hearing several of them speaking over the years they seem to be very much about polish and gloss as opposed to hard facts -
at the end of the day what are we promoting - white cottages, stone walls and leprechauns
or
food produce produced to the highest standards in Europe....

TBH they arent convincing me

JohnBoy

Before I start I'll do like matt cooper every time he mentions denis o brien, and declare my interest. My sister works for bord bia.



Now, I dont know if they're providing value for money or not, putting a true value on marketing spend is very difficult. However they are certainly out there working hard on promoting Ireland, and irish food. There is a very regular stream of tours to irish farms and food processors that are organised by bord bia year round bringing food journalists and buyers from around europe and the world for people who's opinion's matter to come and see first hand the quality and production values that make irish agriculture great.

There are campaigns both here and abroad aimed at the consumer too, and yes, there's a share of paddywhackery to it, but it works.

like it or not, we're perceived as being a rainy, leafy country. And when put up against intensive, year round indoor production systems that exist in many different parts of the world that is a very very good thing.


Many on here scoff at the notion of Organic farming, but compared to the normal production methods used in many parts of the world Irish production methods are practically organic, and that is one of our biggest marketing strengths abroad.


We can talk about the highest production and traceability standards in europe, and that appeals to supermarket buyers and the like, but the housewife doing her shopping needs to be persuaded that the product she's paying a premium for is "better" and to her, green and wet is better, so that's what they shovel out.




I do think they're doing a good job, I've just checked their 2011 annual report and they're only employing 93 people which I dont think is a huge number when you think of the global spread they have.


Their 2011 annual report is here:
http://www.bordbia.ie/aboutus/reports/Current%20Annual%20Reports/Annual%20Report%202011.pdf

Manoffeeling

bob charles wrote: »

spending in the region of €45million pa (last accounts I saw), do you think Bord Bia is doing a good job promoting your section of agriculture? Are we getting value for money?

No. Remember the pork fiasco a couple of years back.

JohnBoy

what part of the pork fiasco do you have a problem with, it was a pretty big situation.


Personally I was very pissed that dairygold bacon remained on the shelves with a tricolour quality mark on it. They had argued shortly before hand that they needed to be able to import a % of their pork every year to smooth out seasonal supply issues. What they meant to say was they needed to import a % of their pork to be able to beat their irish suppliers with every year.



I still think pulling all irish pork off the market straight away was the best thing to do. Marketing (their job) is all about perception, especially in food production, and to be seen to take such strong and swift action is a very good thing to your customers.


There was definitely short term pain, but I think we were better off.

It did also highlight how far apart the pork and beef sectors are in traceability terms though.

MfMan

JohnBoy wrote: »

Before I start I'll do like matt cooper every time he mentions denis o brien, and declare my interest. My sister works for bord bia.



Now, I dont know if they're providing value for money or not, putting a true value on marketing spend is very difficult. However they are certainly out there working hard on promoting Ireland, and irish food. There is a very regular stream of tours to irish farms and food processors that are organised by bord bia year round bringing food journalists and buyers from around europe and the world for people who's opinion's matter to come and see first hand the quality and production values that make irish agriculture great.

There are campaigns both here and abroad aimed at the consumer too, and yes, there's a share of paddywhackery to it, but it works.

like it or not, we're perceived as being a rainy, leafy country. And when put up against intensive, year round indoor production systems that exist in many different parts of the world that is a very very good thing.


Many on here scoff at the notion of Organic farming, but compared to the normal production methods used in many parts of the world Irish production methods are practically organic, and that is one of our biggest marketing strengths abroad.


We can talk about the highest production and traceability standards in europe, and that appeals to supermarket buyers and the like, but the housewife doing her shopping needs to be persuaded that the product she's paying a premium for is "better" and to her, green and wet is better, so that's what they shovel out.




I do think they're doing a good job, I've just checked their 2011 annual report and they're only employing 93 people which I dont think is a huge number when you think of the global spread they have.


Their 2011 annual report is here:
http://www.bordbia.ie/aboutus/reports/Current%20Annual%20Reports/Annual%20Report%202011.pdf

It's refreshing to read a non-cynical response for a change. The BQAS has certainly been of benefit to me as I try to buy (and slaughter) cattle that grade positively.

Do the IFA give value for money? Factories pretty much gave them the 2 fingers when they urged a price rise for beef. Seem incapable (or unwilling) to push for a real price increase.

bogman_bass

We are the 5th largest beef exporter in the world. the majority is being sold in the EU instead of cheeper markets like Russia and North Africa. This is largely down to work done by Board Bia so yes I think they are earning their crust.

As for the ads. rememvber that they arent aimed at farmers but mainly those living in cities and big towns. If telling them that rainbows come out of cows arses leads to more sales I'm all for it!

flatout11

JohnBoy wrote: »

There are campaigns both here and abroad aimed at the consumer too, and yes, there's a share of paddywhackery to it, but it works.

like it or not, we're perceived as being a rainy, leafy country. And when put up against intensive, year round indoor production systems that exist in many different parts of the world that is a very very good thing.
but the housewife doing her shopping needs to be persuaded that the product she's paying a premium for is "better" and to her, green and wet is better, so that's what they shovel out.

bogman_bass wrote: »

We are the 5th largest beef exporter in the world. the majority is being sold in the EU instead of cheeper markets like Russia and North Africa. This is largely down to work done by Board Bia so yes I think they are earning their crust.

As for the ads. rememvber that they arent aimed at farmers but mainly those living in cities and big towns. If telling them that rainbows come out of cows arses leads to more sales I'm all for it!

all sounds grand lads but we have been one of the largest exporters of beef for years - by virtue of our level of production,
in regard to the paddywhackery working - can we really quantify this, has our market share increased significantly in any target country as a result of these add campangs - to do this we need to avoid confounding this issue with changes in EU/Country policy regarding which countries we import from.
on the home front do you think the add campaing highlighted in this thread has increased the national consumption of lamb? or had any impact at all on it?

ps i do belive there are some very good poeple in bord bia who work hard but there are a few spoofers too (but there everywhere!!!)

JohnBoy

flatout11 wrote: »

ps i do belive there are some very good poeple in bord bia who work hard but there are a few spoofers too (but there everywhere!!!)

It's marketing, they're professional spoofers




Would we be 5th biggest exporter of beef if no-one wanted to buy it? it's a chicken and egg situation, like I said it's hard to quantify return on marketing investment.