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(This speech was delivered at the 8th
International Cotton Conference, Gdansk, Poland
on September 23, 2005 by Dr. Sebahattin Gazanfer,
Chairman of IFCP)
The IFCP acts as a forum for exchanging and
communicating cotton promotion ideas and
techniques, in order to inspire domestically
focused and domestically funded cotton promotion
activity. Our objective is to gain market share
at the expense of chemical fibers.
The
IFCP has initiated and expanded several focused
efforts in the area of cotton promotion since
undertaking a new direction at the Gdansk ICAC
Plenary Meeting in 2003. I would like to talk
with you about some of those efforts today.
Beginnings
Globally, cotton had seen its market share
of total fiber use slip from 48.3% in 1980 to
38.5% today. In India, cotton's market share was
77.5% in 1984, and had dropped 25 percentage
points to 52% as of the year 2000. In China,
cotton's market share was 66.8% in 1984 and had
dropped to 30.5% in 2000, a fall of 36
percentage points.
Contrary to these developments, significant
increases in cotton consumption at retail level
had been witnessed elsewhere, especially in the
USA, where sustained and successful promotional
campaigns had already made the greatest
contribution to the growth of cotton consumption
during the last three decades. This was the most
important and exemplary phenomenon, since cotton
consumption in other regions such as in Europe
and Far East, where the promotional activities
had remained of limited scale, had increased
little or even declined. It was the above
mentioned circumstances which prompted the
formation of the IFCP.
The IFCP formally began its activities at the
59th ICAC Plenary Meeting in Cairns, Australia
in 2000, and it was immediately clear that in
order to move forward, the Members of the newly
formed organization would need to formalize the
structure, and improve communication within the
cotton community. National cotton organizations
needed to understand the importance of cotton
promotion, how the new organization would
function, and to agree on the organization's
mission. Core to this mission is to act as a
clearinghouse for promotion techniques and
ideas, to expand membership, and most
importantly, to inspire cotton promotion. In
2003, an Executive Director was installed to
carry out these tasks, elected by the Officers
and the Membership.
Cotton Promotion Bulletin Website
The IFCP membership is global in scope with
17 members from 13 countries, and so the
organization needed to find an efficient,
cost-effective vehicle that would deliver
two-way focused communication easily and
thoroughly. That was the inspiration for the
Cotton Promotion Bulletin website
www.cottonpromotion.org. This would not be just
another URL address, but an interactive
marketing tool as well. The website is extremely
user friendly, topical, and concise, and is
specific to providing tools and ideas for
promoting cotton. The information, refreshed
constantly, is aimed at increasing consumption
in producing, consuming, and trading countries.
The IFCP does not differentiate nor compare
cottons on the basis of producer origin. To the
IFCP, cotton is cotton, and the only
differentiation necessary is to make clear the
difference between cotton and chemical fibers.
Launched in late 2003, the website is the IFCP
virtual headquarters where members and
non-members alike contribute ideas and exchange
strategies that relate to cotton promotion.
Cotton industry professionals, as well as others
experienced in cotton promotion publish basic
strategies that explain in very direct terms how
to evaluate and initiate cotton promotion at
limited expense. Some examples would include
'how to develop a cooperative advertising
campaign', 'how to publicize cotton events',
'how to protect intellectual property', and
more. We've recently added an interactive
feature, called 'Cottonblog', where visitors to
the site help us add to a feature called the
'Benefits of Cotton'. The response has been
impressive.
The Cotton Promotion website also communicates
information that members need to be aware of,
including technology that will affect cotton
markets, and competitive overviews of chemical
fiber manufacturers, their products and their
brands. I am pleased to report that our
membership has contributed to the success of our
website. The site now has a readership of
approximately 70 page views per day (37 unique
visitors/day), which is twice the readership of
only six months ago, and frequently suggestions
for articles come in from readers, members and
non-members alike. If you have not been to the
website, I encourage you to do so.
For the ICAC 62nd and 63rd Plenary Meetings, the
IFCP published a Cotton Promotion Bulletin
Annual, comprised of the core of information
from the cotton promotion website. This enables
those who are interested in promoting cotton to
have a hard copy and user-friendly manual that
delivers step-by-step instruction on how to
execute those promotions.
Cotton Promotion Workshop
In May 2004, the IFCP held the first Cotton
Promotion Workshop at Cotton Incorporated World
Headquarters in Cary, North Carolina, sponsored
by Cotton Incorporated, Cotton Council
International, and the International Cotton
Advisory Committee (ICAC). Fourteen member
organizations from ten countries sent
representatives to this three-day workshop where
Cotton Incorporated shared tried and true
promotion techniques and ideas with the IFCP
Members that were present, providing each group
with materials and strategies to return back to
their organizations, in order to implement
cotton promotion activity in various degrees.
And yet, no new or expanded cotton promotion
activity has occurred that we are aware of since
the meeting in Gdansk. As for why there has not
been more activity from the cotton industry
itself, the reasons are many, but we can only
assume that members of the cotton community have
not yet seen the direct relationship between
promotion at retail and cotton lint and yarn
sales, even knowing and seeing the dramatic
success that Cotton Incorporated has achieved in
the U.S markets. Or perhaps they have not found
the vehicle that they feel comfortable enough
undertaking a promotion with. Programs like this
take a while to catch on.
This clearly spotlights a fundamental task that
the IFCP must perform in going forward, which is
to specifically demonstrate the viability of
promotion and to generate revenues for the
sustainability of the organization itself.
Working with Education
In February 2005, thirteen seniors in their
final academic semester from the Fashion
Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York were
charged with developing a line of cotton-based
products, specifically denim jeans for their
senior project requirement. The primary project
focus was to guide Textile Development and
Marketing students through all of the processes
involved in developing, manufacturing, and
marketing a commercially viable product line and
brand.
The secondary focus was to demonstrate how a
domestically funded and domestically focused
cotton promotion program could be developed at
little or no cost, utilizing the resources of
the IFCP. With the help of Cotton Incorporated,
the creative staff of the IFCP website, and
other industry professionals in the denim
business donating their time, the project was a
strong success. The group chose a blend of
Australian/U.S. upland cotton, had it spun into
yarn in Thailand, yarn dyed, woven, and finished
in China, garments constructed in Hong Kong, and
specialty-denim finishing treatments developed
to the team's specification in California. They
developed a brand strategy based on the market
positioning and promotion strategy from
discussions with Cotton Incorporated, and
overall image and graphic design with help from
the Creative Director and the Public Relations
Director that work on the IFCP website.
The project is very much a cotton story, from
fiber content to consumer promotion, and the
process was filmed and well documented. It will
be presented by the IFCP at the 64th ICAC
Plenary Meeting in Liverpool next week, and we
hope you will be there to see it.
The project will also be presented at the
re-naming of the FIT School of Business and
Technology to approximately 500 top tier retail
and fashion industry executives from all over
the world in New York City in October.
And so the project accomplishes several
objectives. First, it exposed a group of today's
graduates (who are tomorrow's textile and
fashion executives and cotton customers) to a
real-life experience in developing textile
products for consumer markets. The project also
taught them how to use cotton content as a
marketing tool to help develop a successful
product line.
The project taught the team how to develop a
domestically focused and funded cotton promotion
program by utilizing the resources of the IFCP.
The only expense involved was filming the
process.
And of course, since the project will be shown
to key players and decision makers in the
textile, retail, and fashion industries, the
focus is once again, on cotton.
While I am very proud to have been the Professor
and Project Director for this program, my
presence was not what made this possible,
albeit, perhaps easier. There are textile and
fashion schools in many countries, with
extraordinarily talented students, and
Professors eager to embark on real-time projects
with them. The specific cotton promotion help
can be furnished in part by the IFCP and its
Members.
It should also be noted that within five days of
a private preview of the project, a major U.S.
based retailer showed interest in
commercializing the program, which is still in
discussion.
We consider this program to be a major step
forward in our efforts to prove that cotton
promotion can be attainable and affordable, and
that cotton promotion can cause sales of
products that would not have occurred otherwise.
Cotton Sponsor
As mentioned earlier, programs like the IFCP
take awhile to catch on, and sustainability is
always a concern. In order to remedy this, the
IFCP has begun a sponsorship program for
organizations, companies, and countries that
benefit from the cotton value chain.
CottonSponsor, as it is called, is a program
that enables these groups to show their support
for cotton promotion, in order to secure a
healthy future for the cotton sector.
A sponsorship costs $2,500.00 USD, and has a
three (3) year duration. As a sponsor, a
company's name will be highlighted in materials
used at the workshops, will be recognized at the
International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC)
annual Plenary Meetings, will be featured on the
IFCP Web site, and will have the opportunity to
host and help develop future events with the
IFCP. But most of all, sponsors will be doing
their part to foster a healthy cotton economy
globally.
Conclusion
Building demand for cotton is a priority for
organizations involved in the world's cotton
industry. The challenge posed by synthetic
fibers necessitates strong efforts to enhance
demand for cotton products through effective
consumer promotion.
While the progress to date is impressive, in a
lot of ways our work is just beginning. Cotton
consumption continues to be challenged by
alternative fibers in every market around the
world. In spite of an increase in cotton off
take in recent years, cotton continues to lose
market share. An optimistic future for the full
range of participants in the cotton sector --
from producer, to trader, to manufacturer, to
retailer -- can only come if the consumer is
convinced of cotton's advantages and acts upon
that conviction by purchasing our products.
The IFCP is a catalyst and a coordinator for
efforts to enhance demand within the member
countries. I urge others to join us, to the IFCP,
in enhancing visibility and demand for cotton .
We are very pleased and thankful that the Gdynia
Cotton Association, which is a founding member
of the IFCP, has frequently demonstrated their
utmost dedication to the valuable work performed
by the IFCP.
We also would like to thank you for your time
and attention, and for recognizing the
importance of cotton promotion. We hope to see
all of you at the 64th ICAC Plenary Meeting next
month in Liverpool.
¨
Author
Jeffrey Silberman
Executive Director
International Forum for
Cotton Promotion (IFCP)
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