The food and grocery industry’s future is bright and full of opportunity – though, as always, there are challenges.
Direction, focus, and shared horizons will help ensure the industry meets those challenges, makes the most of opportunities, and benefits from sustainable growth.
One imperative is to have a regulatory and policy environment that works with us, and that is where the New Zealand Food and Grocery Council (NZFGC) is doing vital work, advocating for our manufacturers and suppliers and with the thousands of people who contribute along every link in the supply chain.
Another imperative is that the sector is kept informed with quality information on consumer insights, market and industry trends, industry innovations and opportunities, and inspirational stories of what industry leaders are achieving. Those leaders may be global brands, or they may be the thousands of local small and medium, mum and dad companies, and even start-ups, which all have a valuable story to tell.
To help tell those stories, NZFGC is partnering with ASN Media to produce an online series, called ‘Shared Horizons’, where food and grocery manufacturers tell their stories, share initiatives, and help connect and inform members, policymakers, and the wider sector community.
ASN is a global content creation and engagement company based in Christchurch and has a strong track record in providing sector-specific online video content to industry. Their work has included making quality, informative and inspirational programmes for the Australian Food and Grocery Council and Food Industry Asia, as well as organisations in other sectors.
Shared Horizons will showcase the depth, diversity, and ingenuity of the New Zealand food and grocery industry, while addressing the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for it. Themes will include the realities that affect everyone across the industry – food security and waste, packaging and the circular economy, skills and education, and reformulation and innovation. There will be feature interviews with industry leaders and key stakeholders, news reports, and sponsored editorial profiles of prominent organisations in the industry. These will enable our members to tell their stories and share their passion, innovation, and the challenges they face and how they’re responding to them.
NZFGC is the voice for the industry, and with objective documentary-style storytelling we will be able to share our shared horizon with government, retailers, local councils, supply chain stakeholders and the public to show how we’re grappling with those challenges to deliver better outcomes for consumers and for the environment.
Shared Horizons will be launched at this year’s NZFGC Annual Conference in Sydney at the Hilton from November 1 to 3, and a powerful digital marketing campaign for the series will launch online at the same time.
The food and grocery sector has met many challenges over the years and we know we are stronger together. With a shared vision we can embrace the opportunities that the future offers, responsibly, sustainably and with a shared voice.
(originally published in FMCG Business, July)