Summary
• AHEC’s marketing strategy matches species availability with demand.
• The aim is to boost use of under-utilised and most abundant species.
• Europe has responded to red oak promotion.
• US hardwood stock has more than doubled in 50 years.
Look up the meaning of marketing and you’ll find that it focuses on identifying the needs of your target market through research, taking what you’ve learned and making strategic decisions about product design, pricing, promotion and distribution. If the last 20 years have taught me anything, it is that marketing American hardwoods is the exact opposite of this neat definition.
As a generic campaign, we are not promoting products that can be adapted and changed in order to meet the demands of changing tastes and markets. We are dealing with a natural material over which we have little control in terms of production and design. We cannot change our product significantly, except perhaps by tinkering with stains and grain patterns. And while the US may have a range of around 22 species to offer, the mix is unbalanced not just by quantities available, but also to market demand. The challenge is highlighted by American black walnut, which is experiencing very high levels of demand yet only represents around 1% of the US hardwood resource.
Product supply is the least of our problems. The latest RPA (US Renewable Resources Planning Act) shows that the net volume of hardwood growing stock in the US has increased from 184,090 million ft3 in 1953 to just under 400,000 million ft3 in 2007 – a true measure of sustainability if ever there was one. So our marketing challenge is marketing in reverse. We have to understand what we have to offer and then prepare the market, in the face of competition, both wood and non-wood. This matching of the market to the resource has been the focus of our campaign for the last 20 years.
At this critical point in the evolution of the global hardwood sector there is no doubt that we are going to have to concentrate even harder on this key strategy; understanding our customers and their needs and examining our resources and what they offer – classic match making. While this may be a cyclical, largely fashion-dominated market, the requirement for sustainable and legal timber is becoming a key driver in the choice of materials. American hardwoods’ position here is strong. We have a renewable resource that just goes on growing, and existing evidence that American hardwoods tick the box on legal sourcing will soon be endorsed by the results of a study by Seneca Creek Associates. AHEC commissioned this in response to customer requirements for independently verified evidence that our hardwoods derive from legal sources. With more than 5 million forest owners, certification will always be a major challenge for us, but we are committed to meeting the requirement for proven sustainability and there will be further initiatives.
Above all, our marketing requires creativity. We have to analyse our markets and make assessments. We have to forecast trends and tastes, and be creative in our market education. The successful AHEC promotion of American tulipwood in the 1990s as a substitute for ramin and of natural characteristics in American hardwoods, with the “are you wasting the wood” campaign, are classic examples of matching resource to market.
The strategic shift in emphasis of our campaign towards architects and the building sector over the last 10 years also demonstrates the importance of reacting to the changing needs of the market. At the heart of it all is our need to educate and inform the market about species we have to offer – their applications and adaptability – and raise the profile of underutilised varieties, which we know will meet specific requirements.
American red oak is, of course, a prime example. Here is a species, which is naturally regenerated, abundant, strong and adaptable, but with a relatively low acceptance in Europe. And, of course, it’s not exactly red. Its light colour makes it perfect for contemporary interior applications. ‘America’s best kept secret’ was the theme of our ground breaking campaign to promote a species that ticks pretty much all the specification boxes.
It’s a slow burn, but the impact of that campaign is now being felt in increased red oak lumber exports to Europe in 2007 and a number of wonderful case studies in interiors, designer furniture and joinery applications.
In 2008 AHEC will continue to matchmake and maintain the dialogue with architects and specifiers. Reverse marketing may seem like a contradiction, but it’s what we have to keep perfecting on behalf of the American hardwood industry in a demanding, competitive world.
