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Cottoning up to
World Markets With the Market Access Program
By Dale Cougot
Go ahead, ask consumers in Asia or Latin America if they’ve heard about cotton products from the United States. And, if they have, would they consider buying any of them?
If the answer’s "yes" to either question, thank the Cotton Council International’s consumer promotion campaign, co-funded through the Foreign Agricultural Service’s Market Access Program (MAP). Their efforts are paying off in terms of a high level of recognition throughout the world for the COTTON USA mark.
The objective: to strengthen
consumers’ positive identification of the mark so as to
increase sales of products with a high percentage of U.S. cotton.
Developed in 1989, the COTTON USA-mark is licensed for use by the Council’s partners who produce high-quality, 100-percent cotton products that contain at least 50-percent U.S. cotton.
With the help of advertising agencies, the Council has launched promotional campaigns featuring the logo in key markets in Asia, Western Europe and Latin America.
The message is that products made from U.S. cotton are the highest quality, most comfortable and most durable in the world.
Consumer
Promotions Span the Globe
One tactic has worked especially well throughout the world: associating U.S. cotton with cultural and lifestyle preferences like popular music and outdoor concerts. Carefully crafted retail promotions are built around special events, purchase incentives, and pop-culture personalities who link U.S. cotton to lifestyle choices. Promotion plans to support the mark include TV, radio and in-store retail campaigns.
Here are just some of the recent promotional happenings:
Asia: In Taiwan, the Council’s "Like Cotton" sales promotion generated $17 million in sales, a 7.8-percent sales increase for participating licensees. The month-long proof-of-purchase promotion, starring Asian superstar Leo Ku, featured 83 licensee brands of cotton apparel and home fashions.
In Korea, COTTON USA-Mark licensees Happyland and Absorba, who joined in for the "Children’s Cotton World" promotion, sold $3 million worth of U.S. cotton-rich products, a 24-percent increase over the previous year’s level.
In Japan, a "lucky draw" promotion featured tours of Memphis and Disney World for 10 first place winners and Cotton USA mark-labeled products for more than one thousand second place winners. The Council’s partners and Cotton USA licensees donated prizes.
Ito-Yokado, the second-largest retailer in Japan, promoted products labeled with the Cotton USA mark in 180 stores from April to June. Sales volumes in 1999 increased by 10 percent over the previous year. Total sales of mark-labeled merchandise reached $9.5 million in 1999.
During Hong Kong Fashion Week, Cotton USAwas among the sponsors of popular designer Pacino Wan’s fashion show. Nearly 2,000 trade executives and journalists attended the standing-room-only show. Wan used denim, twill and cotton knit fabrics made with a majority of U.S. cotton to create his new collection.
Latin America: Fifteen Cotton USA mark licensees featured their spring collections during "Cotton Day" in Colombia and Ecuador.
A spring retail promotion was a huge success. More than 30,000 customers in 5 Colombian cities purchased $1.3 million worth of products for a chance to win a pair of airline tickets to Miami.
Europe: "Music Tour ’99" promotions in Germany and Italy this spring served to increase retail demand for U.S. cotton-rich products. German consumers won tickets to concerts.
Following the 1998 European Home Fashion Buyers Tour and the successful event in Germany, Italy’s largest retailer, UPIM, decided to conduct a USA Home Fashions promotion in its 128 stores.
Strategic Partnerships
Recent promotional successes throughout the world have teamed sales of cotton with those of laundry detergent.
Kao, the largest laundry detergent manufacturer in Japan, has been licensed to add the Cotton USA mark to its "Attack" brand. Hundreds of millions of units are currently being labeled. Two new Procter & Gamble laundry products in Japan have also joined the licensee program.
Procter & Gamble also joined the Council and its licensee partners in Colombia, promoting its detergent endorsed with the Cotton USA mark.
Talking Straight to the Trade
At the heart of the Council’s cotton product trade
servicing is the need to build venues where buyers and sellers
can meet and participate in some of the world’s largest and
most prestigious textile trade fairs.
The Foreign Market Development Program, administered by the Foreign Agricultural Service, supports the Cotton Council International in bringing customers to the United States to build enduring relationships.
One of the most important cotton fiber promotion events is the Annual Sourcing USA Summit hosted by Cotton Council International and Cotton Incorporated. More than 200 mill owners and cotton buyers from around the world attend the summit.
The Council also takes representatives of U.S. cotton cooperatives, merchants and producers to foreign markets in the interests of meeting cotton buyers.
Cotton USA Value-Added Trade Servicing
A high-profile presence at key international trade shows, such as the Cotton USA booth at the FENATEC trade show in Brazil and the Cotton Service Center at this year’s Tokyopretex, also helps bring U.S. cotton producers’ message to overseas buyers.
The author is a senior marketing specialist with the FAS Cotton, Oilseeds, Tobacco and Seeds division in Washington, D.C. Tel:(202) 720-0139; Fax (202) 720-0965; E-mail: Cougot@fas.usda.gov
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