Highlights the advantages of relationship marketing though a case study of Cervena, an “appellation controllée” for New Zealand venison, which helped it to carve out a new market among diners at top restaurants in the USA.
Demonstrates that New Zealand venison producers had to find a new market for their product when sales in their main export market, Germany, collapsed following the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Recounts the history and development of the Cervena total quality program, and the unusual marketing strategy that helped the product to succeed in the USA.
Shows that the value of venison sales to the USA rose by 149 percent after the Cervena program was introduced. The average value of venison exports to the USA grew by 35 percent, despite an 85 percent increase in volume. The USA accounted for 12 percent of all New Zealand's venison export earnings in 2000 – well up from the pre‐Cervena levels of 7 percent. Awareness of Cervena among targeted chefs in the USA rose from 45 to 69 percent, and usage increased from 25 to 33 percent. More than a third of top restaurants in the USA now serve Cervena.
Argues that relationship marketing was the only way for New Zealand venison to establish a reliable market in the USA, and that relationships provide a serious barrier to entry to other producers.
