In this month’s instalment of The Inside Track, I want to discuss the complexity of branding and getting it right.  

I was talking to somebody the other day who just happened to mention that they keep Stabiliser cattle. These cattle were bred in the 1990’s to create the ultimate suckler cow. The developers were geneticists, and they created the Stabiliser cow; a mix of four different breeds, including the Hereford, Red Angus, Simmental, and Gelbvieh. This cow was lauded as being more efficient, easy breeding, and all the things that farmers and the marketplace need from a beef animal – and of course great to eat. If this cow was the ultimate beef animal, why hadn’t I seen them everywhere? The person who kept them did not understand that either. It got me thinking about the complexity of branding and getting it right.  

What went wrong? 

I wondered whether the name was the problem. A name like Stabiliser does not really tell you anything. The cows’ genetics are very stable hence the name Stabiliser, but I get the feeling that this is a working title that never changed.  

Then I thought, is this about brand and what things stand for? Or about how difficult it is to implement change in agriculture and the wider food system? There are so many moving parts, the retailer, the processor, the abattoir, and then the farmer and lots of people in between.  

The psychology of change is always a factor, as could be the power of the established brands. Beef brands like Aberdeen Angus and Hereford are so entrenched because they have been around for hundreds of years and are widely associated with being at the premium end of beef production. They absolutely dominate. Go into the supermarket and the high-end range will invariably be Angus or Hereford. The power of these brands is deep rooted. Here we have the Stabiliser, around now for over 30 years, the ultimate suckler cow based on science which delivers on ease of calving, meat quality, early maturity, feed efficiency-yet somehow all of these things are not enough.  

To make the marketplace shift, you need to have a good understanding of what makes it tick, of the people in it, and what’s required to shift the dial and achieve market penetration.  

Time for a rebrand? 

I started off by wondering whether the name was the problem? Well Stabiliser cattle is not a particularly exciting or consumer-friendly name, and it would be difficult to create a story around it. But for me, the name is just a small part of the issue. I think the real issue is that it hasn’t been presented to the marketplace in the right way to get farmers, producers, abattoirs, processors, and retailers excited. Maybe it’s time for a rebrand? Everyone talks about Angus or Hereford because they have been told they are premium brands, but you can buy some terrible Angus or Hereford. All kinds of things can affect meat quality, from poor finishing to stress at slaughter or more fundamentally, poor genetics such as dairy crosses. Dairy animals are bred for big stomachs to produce lots of milk, they are not bred for muscling and quality beef. The Stabiliser appears to have so many benefits over other breeds, but it just hasn’t taken off.  

I think it’s interesting how this issue highlights all the different elements that need to be considered when trying to bring a product to the marketplace and build its brand and reputation. It is incredibly hard work but when you set it on the right path, the power of that brand can be transformational.