Agricultural Show Awards: A Brief Exploration of Their Role Marketing Food Products

ABSTRACT

Drawing on interviews with 12 agriculture show winners across a range of different food industries, this report provides a preliminary analysis of the role that agricultural show awards play in branding and marketing food products for commercial sale. In keeping with findings from previous studies, show awards were found to be regarded by producers as prestigious, signifying product excellence. Further, the assessment of the quality of products, the opportunity to receive expert feedback on new products, and a comparative, competitive effect of the show system was found to provide a mechanism to improve quality, helping to support industry standards and foster a culture of innovation. Show awards were identified as especially important in supporting small-scale entrepreneurial endeavors that depend on niche marketing strategies. However, winning awards was shown to contribute more to perceived brand equity of products rather than actual economic gain. To strengthen the impact of show success, participants indicated the need for increased consumer awareness of the meaning of the awards. The authors identify key future directions research could take to maximize the impact of agricultural award systems on the businesses of competitors.

KEYWORDS:

• Agricultural shows
• awards
• branding
• food marketing

Acknowledgments

Our thanks go to the interviewees in this study and Bill Binks from ABARES for his work in the early stages of this project. This paper is based on an earlier version Agricultural Show Awards and their Use in the Marketing of Food Products: A Review of the Literature presented at the Institute of Food Products Marketing Conference, Philadelphia, USA, June 21–22, 2012. Our thanks also go to the conference participants for their thoughtful feedback.

Contributors

Joanna Henryks, PhD, is a Professional Associate, Faculty of Arts and Design, University of Canberra. She is currently working as a consultant in the non-profit sector focusing on marketing, communication and strategic planning. Her current research into food includes food in remote Australian Indigenous communities.

Saan Ecker, PhD, is a consultant social and environmental researcher drawing on a multidisciplinary background including human ecology, anthropology, psychology and ecology. From 2008 to 2014, Saan worked in the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) Social Sciences research team and was team leader from 2010. In this role she led projects considering uptake of sustainable agriculture, attitudes to environmental stewardship and diversification options for farmers in regional Australia.

Bethaney Turner, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Arts and Design at the University of Canberra. Her current research explores how more sustainable urban living behaviors can be developed and fostered in a time of human-induced climate change. Her interdisciplinary research draws on many fields including human geography, political ecology and cultural theory and, in practice, focuses on the food system from production to waste.

Bonnie Denness was the UVEP Summer Scholar at Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences. She currently works in policy for the Australian Government.

Halina Zobel-Zubrzycka, PhD, has multidisciplinary background in economics, political and social sciences. She has more than 15 years' experience in Commonwealth government agencies developing and implementing government policies in partnership with industry stakeholders, including the preparation of significant legislative changes, and identification and accommodation of stakeholder priorities by developing consultative processes.

Notes

Australia has one of the highest concentrations of supermarkets in the developed world. Coles and Woolworths are the two main supermarket chains in the Australian marketplace. Between them they control almost 80% of the market [Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Report of the ACCC Inquiry into the Competitiveness of Retail Prices for Standard Groceries Canberra (Australia): Commonwealth of Australia; 2008 Available from: http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index].