FWPA’s push for greater timber use is a campaign we can all get behind, says Timberlink.
An exciting mass media campaign has been launched by Forest & Wood Products Australia (FWPA) to promote the benefits of wood and timber products. Timberlink would like to see everyone in the industry support and promote it in any way that they can.
‘The Ultimate Renewable’ is such a simple message, but it is powerful, concise and memorable. The campaign is aimed at increasing public awareness of the sustainable, renewable and carbon positive nature of timber. The ads were on free-to-air TV in July and are supported by an extensive ongoing outdoor media and online and traditional media campaign.
The campaign messaging itself has been derived from extensive research that indicated a general lack of understanding about the origin of timber products and forestry practices among the general population. This problem has become particularly relevant in the face of a rising steel framing industry. Many people weren’t even aware that trees were replanted for example.
So, it would seem that the need for advertising was self-evident. But it wasn’t that easy to bring all of the industry sectors together in this meaningful way. There is no doubt that this is an unusually fragmented industry in terms of ownership. From the forests to the mills, softwood and hardwood, exporter and importer, there are many players in each of these fields, and getting them all on the same page at the same time is always going to be a challenge.
With such a positive message to communicate and so many stakeholders, it would be easy for people in the timber industry to fall into the trap of thinking that the easiest path would be for each individual company to create their own promotions and end up competing with one another instead of with other building products.
It is a credit to each of the major businesses, as well as to the FWPA and its managing director, Ric Sinclair, that the industry has not gone down that path and has instead united to promote the benefits of wood.
There is a saying in marketing: “repeat repeat and you’ll be sweet”. That applies here with ‘The Ultimate Renewable’. The wording is very deliberate, and we would like to see everyone in the industry using the logo where possible.
Timberlink is proud to have been involved from the conception of The Ultimate Renewable campaign, from the market research project to the content of the final advert.
We hope that the whole industry can stay united and get behind this message. Tell your customers, tell your friends and family – Wood is The Ultimate Renewable!
If you are a customer of ours, we want to help you spread the message. Contact your account manager or our communications coordinator Troy Donis on tdonis@timberlinkaustralia.com.au about how we can help you create and co-brand pro-timber content such as flyers and blogs.
Image: Conifers being grown to replace harvested trees.
