Background

SIAL China is the fourth biggest food show in the world which targets major market

players from retail, hotel/restaurant/catering, food services, the import/export trade

and manufacturing.

In 2017, the exhibition ran from 17 -19 May in Shanghai, China.

Main Purpose of Attendance

To demonstrate, to both Australian and Chinese governments, Australian Pork's

commitment to building a market and to gain support for access approval.

SIAL 2017REPORT Participants

Industry

• Anthony Dobson - Primo

• Paul Hawke - George Weston Foods

• Mark McKenzie - Rivalea

• Lui Rinaldi - Linley Valley

• Graham Martin - Linley Valley

• SunPork

• B&E

Technical Support

• Peter Smith - Australian Pork Ltd

• Quek Huey Ming (Ming) - Australian Pork Ltd

• Jayne Gallagher - Honey & Fox Pty Ltd

• Emily Mantilla - Honey & Fox Pty Ltd

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Supplementary Reasons for Attendance

• Raise awareness that Australia has a successful pork farming industry.

• Communicate to future potential wholesalers, distributors and retailers of Australia's pork products.

• Test key messages with potential future wholesalers, distributors and retailers.

• Communicate to potential future wholesalers, distributors and retailers on the status of the trade protocol.

• Expose APL and associated company's brands to raise awareness of potential future trade.

• Obtain market insights on areas such as potential demand, product and consumer trends.

• Identify general food trends and innovations.

• Build relationships for strategic long-term partnerships with potential future wholesalers, distributors and retailers.

• Identify decision makers who may be able to assist and promote Australian pork with the submission to enter China.

Outputs

• Number of contacts made (including category of high-quality contacts to pursue further).

• Interest of Australian pork product by other countries in addition to China.

• Marketing collateral in Mandarin and English.

• Learnings report.

Key Learnings

1. Not much is known among the trade in China about Australian Pork or associated company brands, hence a marketing strategy would

need to build awareness of Australia as a pork producer.

2. SIAL participants are largely commodity traders so of limited relevance to the premium pork project however do provide potentially

useful commercial opportunities for individual pork exporters interested in trade with China (e.g. there appears to be is a shortage of head,

ears and offal).

3. There needs to be a targeted campaign to get the right people to visit the trade stand rather than just waiting for people to find us.

4. The grey trade is still prevalent with some Chinese buyers/importers openly promoting its use - we need to be wary of business and legal

risks associated with this.

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SIAL 2017 Snapshot

The APL StandThe APL stand was constructed and set up as agreed. Here is the final design with all collateral displayed:

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• All the attendees agreed that attending the exhibition was worthwhile and that APL should be there next year. If this is formally

agreed, it would be beneficial to book the stand early and take advantage of the early bird savings.

• It was considered important that the IWG need to be more prompt on responding on APL enquiries for attendance at the show so

accommodation etc. can be booked early to get better rates.

Recommendations:

1. Get commitment and sign off by all parties to attend SIAL 2018 as soon as possible and book the stand and accommodation early to

maximise savings.

2. Book the Kerry Hotel early as it is much closer to the exhibition centre and the hotel can take cancellations up to 30 days before the

show with no charge.

Stand Location

• All attendees agreed the stand was in a good location.

• The APL stand was close to the Canadian and US pork stands and around the corner from MLA.

• It was considered there was a more targeted audience in the meat halls.

• APL may consider having a second stand in the Australian pavilion to maximise traffic as some attendees felt APL may have missed

some customers only being in one area. If a second stand is agreed, the size of the stand would need to be considered.

• Another option is to be closer or right next to MLA to promote opportunities for collaboration. APL could then leverage off MLA's

appeal and power in the market or APL could set a challenge to try and beat their audience numbers and their presence at the show!

Recommendation:

1. APL to cost out different stand options for 2018 early (including a second stand locagtion) and get the IWG to agree on approach

early on.

Stand Design

• The stand number needs to be visibly displayed on the stand to help people locate the stand via their exhibition maps.

• Identify ways to drive people to the stand prior to the show and during it through give-aways, competitions or some other mechanism.

• The stand was a bit cluttered and as such, the coffee table removed in the back corner to allow for more open space.

• The back wall should have been higher to allow for bigger murals. This would also allow the space for just one really big TV screen (or

two TV screens on the back wall) and to remove the "pillar", thereby further opening up the stand.

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• It was considered that if six suppliers had attended the exhibition, the stand's space would have been too small. Consider a bigger

stand or each company only sends only one person.

• Ideas were put forward to create more space and enhance openness without taking away the comfort of the couches such as

including a separate meeting room, have tables down side of the stand, skinner cupboards, swap the couches for a high table with

stools or round table small chairs, have the logo on each side of a skinnier divider (or one logo that oscillated).

• The attendees were happy with the stand's colours and visuals.

• The green carpet got dirty easily so changing it to a wooden floor would not only open up the space but would be easier to ensure a

cleaner look.

• Consider a good coffee machine to provide hospitality to stand visitor as well as staff.

• Examples of other similar size stand layouts that may work for APL next year include:

Examples of more "open" formats (some including the incorporation of

a pillar)

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Examples of a "premium" look and feel format

Recommendations:

1. Consider the overall look and feel of the stand to ensure it is premium enough to support the premium positioning desired by APL.

2. Design a stand to showcase Australian pork's unique selling point!

3. Go for a cleaner, less cluttered stand design to open up the stand (e.g. replicate stand walls /shell but remove/reduce width of pillar

and analyse layout of tables and couches).

4. Ensure the stand is big enough in m2 to comfortably include all suppliers.

5. Ensure the stand still has the comfort factor for sit down meetings but also ensures privacy required for a multi-company stand.

6. Identify ways to drive people to the stand as part of the stand design and pre-show activities.

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Stand Collateral

Posters, Maps and Artwork

• Identify what is the "come here message" to get audiences engaging with the stand. Is it a pig or a map? Note - Chinese research shows that

the map particularly by itself is not recognised by many people.

• Include a much higher back wall and have a big map of Australia on it with sites and company logos (see note above).

• The Australian Pork Logo on the walls should have been translated into Mandarin. Note - it is possible to have an APL Mandarin logo that

works alongside the Australian Pork logo - logo design is more than translation - it needs to work in the context of the market.

• Some attendees felt that the artwork on walls could be more factual and less pretty and could have had much more targeted messaging.

Brochures and Video

• Establishment numbers should be on all brochures and other collateral.

• A list of where APL export to should be developed.

• Each company needs an individual brochure including specs, packaging and cuts chart for different Asian countries (this requires more

discussion by the group on the detail as this is quite complex). Note - Danish pork developed a specific cut chart for China and used Chinese

colloquial names for the cuts - not just translated literally.

• Unique business cards for SIAL should be created by APL's marketing team.

• Develop a hand out on the progress of the protocol for those visitors interested in future purchase of Australian pork.

• The videos should have captions in Mandarin and be put into one loop.

• Include information on small goods.

Recommendations:

1. Focus on key visuals having a more "draw card factor".

2. Revise existing hand out collateral and develop new collateral based on suggestions.

3. Ensure all collateral has been fully translated into Mandarin (e.g. Video titles and sub-titles).

Stand Personnel

• Having two interpreters was good however one interpreter (Kathy) seemed to struggle with picking up some of the key points.

• A stand roster was not necessary but this may change when the protocol is approved and the product has accreditation.

• It would have been useful to have Andrew Robertson on the stand as the policy expert and for language skills.

• Consider each company only sending one person (or increase the size of the stand).

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Uniforms

• Not all attendees had a uniform.

• Create cotton chambray shirts with the APL logo embroidered on it in English and Mandarin.

• As the stand was so hot, some attendees thought APL should consider cotton shorts.

• Suppliers should have a standard size name badge with their company logo and their Christian and Chinese name on it in bold.

Data Collection

• The phone scanner and app (CamCard) worked reasonably but still needed a Mandarin speaker to manually check each entry for

accuracy.

• A mechanism is needed to capture not only card information but also what was the purpose of their visit to the stand. This will

help in the follow up process. Data that should be collected includes:

o What do they do

o How are they relevant to APL

• A simple post card should be created (see above) where notes can be quickly written and the business card stapled to the post

card so there is always information to refer back to. The process needs to be quick and easy, especially during high traffic times.

• No mechanism was engaged to collect how many people interacted with the stand - except for business card collection. Consider

a number clicker.

Recommendations:1. Review data collection processes, including ways to capture the visitor's purpose of coming to the stand.

2. Investigate a proper card reader linked to a CRM.

Market Visits

• Use SIAL as an opportunity to get people out into the market for full days, not half days .

• If we do trade visits long lunches in remote places is not ideal. Note - Lunch is for briefing and interaction on culture and consumer

trends. This is the Chinese way.

• Trade visits should include formal delegations to major supermarket head offices as well as QSR.

Recommendation:1. Market visits are an important part of the learning and market intelligence gathering process. Continue to include market visits

as part of the SIAL offering.

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Follow Ups

• Send a communication to all contacts made and clarify who APL is and thank them for attending.

• Need to capture how many supply chain partners were contacted after the exhibition and their feedback on the value of these.

Recommendations:

1. Send a professional branded communique to all trade show attendees.

2. Send regular communication to trade show attendees about the progress of the protocol.

3. Communicate to suppliers to provide feedback on contacts made after the show and how commercially valuable they are.

Other

• There were potential customers from all over Asia at the exhibition. Potential sales opportunities have occurred in Vietnam, Hong

Kong, Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia and others.

• There may be opportunities to export to the UK.

• We need to find a way to share information and progress on China without compromising the opportunities of the IWG.

• To get more money APL will need to provide info on progress on protocol etc. (including processed pork codes).

• Is it time to consider an official APL WeChat account and an international website hosted in China to help with communication about

the protocol, products and industry key messages?

Recommendation:

1. Peter Smith to provide a summary of spending so far and what participants have received in benefit.

Final Words: What was Disappointing

• Everyone only wanted to talk about trotters and ears. It is important to stay focussed on the big picture of the whole pig. Note - is this

a function that the stand visitors were random walk pasts rather than a targeted buyer approach?

• There was not enough enquiries on small goods. Some attendees felt there needs to be some messaging around this product.

• There was a lot more conversation about frozen than chilled than anticipated.

• There needs to be a much better mechanism for collecting names and information etc for follow up.