As the Western Mail’s “Buy Welsh” campaign starts in earnest today as a celebration of all produce made, reared and grown in Wales, I thought it relevant to examine how to establish a culture where more people across our nation make a conscious decision to buy Welsh goods and services.
During the last Assembly election campaign, one of the proposals I put forward to the Welsh Conservatives was a plan to introduce a new ‘Guaranteed Welsh’ logo to promote Welsh produce and services. I would like to boast that the idea was mine but it was not. Instead, it was taken from a similar scheme currently operating in the Republic of Ireland which had been established to support Irish companies.
The aim of the Guaranteed Irish scheme is to increase awareness of, and demand for, Irish products and services. It provides an ongoing series of seminars and buyers’ days and, through creating consumer interest, awareness and passion for the Guaranteed Irish ethos, helps Irish businesses increase their market share.
The project supports consumers by creating pride in the making and buying of Irish products and services, enabling them to feel good about buying Irish. Even in schools, Guaranteed Irish has a programme to reach a whole new generation of consumers who are proud to buy Irish.
As the management guru Tom Peters expounds, there is no reason why innovators should not steal ideas shamelessly, and I believe that the introduction of a ‘Guaranteed Welsh’ logo would be an extremely powerful device in promoting Welsh goods and services and would help safeguard Welsh jobs and promote Welsh quality.
It would, with the right promotional support, become an instantly recognisable symbol for consumers who would know that when they buy a product or service featuring the Guaranteed Welsh logo, they are supporting Welsh companies and Welsh workers.
The adoption of such a scheme could be a vital step in ensuring that the market for local produce is developed within Wales, especially as Welsh farmers and businesses has a reputation for quality and professionalism. In an increasingly competitive market, it is vital that they are given every chance to steal a march on their rivals.
In my opinion, the “Guaranteed Welsh” symbol would quickly become a respected, recognisable, valuable marketing tool and a sign of quality.
Having worked in Dublin, I quickly noticed that there was a real effort by the Irish Government to ensure that consumers had the choice of backing local farmers and local businesses through their purchasing power. More recently, there has been research undertaken in Ireland which has proved conclusively that the vast majority of Irish grocery shoppers want to purchase Irish food at every opportunity and favour the introduction of a label to identify food as Irish.
I cannot see how Welsh shoppers can be any different given the pride in their nation. All they need is the opportunity to be able to choose when buying products and services and for those products that are sourced in Wales to be clearly labeled.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and I believe that the time has come for Wales to take lessons from the Irish experience and give consumers the real choice in supporting their local communities.
The Guaranteed Irish scheme has been a resounding success in promoting the best in Irish goods and services and in adopting such a scheme, I am confident that we can repeat that success in Wales by marketing the 'Made in Wales' brand as much as possible. I just hope that in the spirit of a more open style of government in Wales, such an approach will be examined in detail by the appropriate Assembly ministers.
During the last Assembly election campaign, one of the proposals I put forward to the Welsh Conservatives was a plan to introduce a new ‘Guaranteed Welsh’ logo to promote Welsh produce and services. I would like to boast that the idea was mine but it was not. Instead, it was taken from a similar scheme currently operating in the Republic of Ireland which had been established to support Irish companies.
The aim of the Guaranteed Irish scheme is to increase awareness of, and demand for, Irish products and services. It provides an ongoing series of seminars and buyers’ days and, through creating consumer interest, awareness and passion for the Guaranteed Irish ethos, helps Irish businesses increase their market share.
The project supports consumers by creating pride in the making and buying of Irish products and services, enabling them to feel good about buying Irish. Even in schools, Guaranteed Irish has a programme to reach a whole new generation of consumers who are proud to buy Irish.
As the management guru Tom Peters expounds, there is no reason why innovators should not steal ideas shamelessly, and I believe that the introduction of a ‘Guaranteed Welsh’ logo would be an extremely powerful device in promoting Welsh goods and services and would help safeguard Welsh jobs and promote Welsh quality.
It would, with the right promotional support, become an instantly recognisable symbol for consumers who would know that when they buy a product or service featuring the Guaranteed Welsh logo, they are supporting Welsh companies and Welsh workers.
The adoption of such a scheme could be a vital step in ensuring that the market for local produce is developed within Wales, especially as Welsh farmers and businesses has a reputation for quality and professionalism. In an increasingly competitive market, it is vital that they are given every chance to steal a march on their rivals.
In my opinion, the “Guaranteed Welsh” symbol would quickly become a respected, recognisable, valuable marketing tool and a sign of quality.
Having worked in Dublin, I quickly noticed that there was a real effort by the Irish Government to ensure that consumers had the choice of backing local farmers and local businesses through their purchasing power. More recently, there has been research undertaken in Ireland which has proved conclusively that the vast majority of Irish grocery shoppers want to purchase Irish food at every opportunity and favour the introduction of a label to identify food as Irish.
I cannot see how Welsh shoppers can be any different given the pride in their nation. All they need is the opportunity to be able to choose when buying products and services and for those products that are sourced in Wales to be clearly labeled.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and I believe that the time has come for Wales to take lessons from the Irish experience and give consumers the real choice in supporting their local communities.
The Guaranteed Irish scheme has been a resounding success in promoting the best in Irish goods and services and in adopting such a scheme, I am confident that we can repeat that success in Wales by marketing the 'Made in Wales' brand as much as possible. I just hope that in the spirit of a more open style of government in Wales, such an approach will be examined in detail by the appropriate Assembly ministers.
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