Taking a trip down Dairy Group's memory lane

By DITA DE BONI merketing writer

The agency that designed the final annual report for the New Zealand Dairy Group says it wanted to present more than just the usual accounts, chairman's blurb and shareholders' bumf.

The result is a 40-page trip down dairying's memory lane using the designs of each decade, produced by Auckland's Brave New World and the Dairy Group.

The package has been sent, along with the usual financial details, in a large blue box-set to the company's 10,500 owners/sharemilkers and 1500 other related parties in time for the company's last annual meeting.

The bumper annual report celebrates the Dairy Group's graduation to the big time, as it, producer group Kiwi Dairies and the Dairy Board merge to form the Fonterra Cooperative Group.

Fonterra will be New Zealand's largest indigenous multinational company with $11 billion in assets and more than $12 billion in revenue.

The Fonterra cooperative is a long way from the Otago Peninsula Cooperative Cheese Factory Company, New Zealand's first dairy cooperative, which built its processing plant at Highcliff in 1871.

The review highlights key developments leading to today's high-tech industry, including the mystical origin of Anchor butter's design, one of the best known Kiwi brands overseas.

As the story goes, Cornish farmer Henry Reynolds set up a butter-making factory at Pukekura near Cambridge in 1886.

As the first butter for trade was being packed, Mr Reynolds decided that a special mark was needed.

It is believed that he chose the anchor design after seeing a tattoo on the arm of a sailor who worked on a farm that supplied the factory.

The account director for Brave New World, Tony Brown, says that is the kind of human story that has made the Dairy Group's tale so compelling.

Mr Brown, who oversaw the project for the agency, says a surprise for those working on the three-month project was the sheer level of innovation that farmers used to help create a company which today "kicks arse" on the world stage.

"I think there is a lack of understanding at just how New Zealand's dairy companies excel at an international level.

"The whole industry is full of very good business guys who just happen to wear gumboots," he says.

The report, compiled using the Dairy Group's library resources, was designed to reflect progress through the decades.

Mr Brown says the page layouts include the early woodblock type for the pre-1900s, a wartime, stencil look for the Second World War years and a soft, retro look for the 70s.

The chief executive of the Dairy Group, John Spencer, says the document was designed to give shareholders and suppliers a keepsake commemorating the achievements of the cooperative.

"An awful lot of people have been involved over so long," Mr Spencer says.

"The document is almost a chronological account of pioneering New Zealand.

"In true cooperative fashion, people have worked hard with little reward in some cases to leave something for future generations. It is a testament to that," Mr Spencer says.

The group will not reveal how much the document cost to produce, although Mr Spencer says "you wouldn't want to be doing it every year".

It is understood that the parties involved in producing the document are considering putting out a CD-Rom capturing the historical times of dairying, for use in schools.