20.01.2020
The ATIBT Marketing Commission was held on 15 January 2020 in Nogent-sur-Marne. 19 members and 4 guests were present.
Olman SERRANO, also president of the ATIBT Marketing Commission, now chairs the ATIBT Marketing Commission.
A very large number of subjects were dealt with throughout the day, the main ones being the following:
Illegal timber: more and more illegal timber is arriving on the European market, notably via the port of Antwerp. It was decided to raise awareness in the EU and to interact if possible with Interpol (LEAF project) to deal with this situation. A credible feedback mechanism could be set up.
ATIBT’s media and digital environment: Important work is underway with two communication agencies, specialising in media (implementation of the press campaign from November 2018) and social networks (launch of LinkedIn and Instagram accounts in June 2019). The Fair&Precious brand has a strong presence through these actions, and indicators have been provided that highlight its audience growth.
The Marketing Commission reiterates its desire to promote certification as a whole without any bias between the two certifications.
Fair&Precious – STTC collaboration : PPECF’s support for this productive collaboration continues, as part of the marketing programme, with a view to bringing « market » expertise to communication. Last November, ATIBT participated in the STTC and International Hardwood conferences in Berlin.
ATIBT – FSC collaboration: In the framework of the action plan for supporting certification in the Congo Basin, FSC Netherlands (Mr. Ben Romein) attended the Commission and gave a presentation on the complementarities between the FSC and ATIBT approaches.
A specific news will be made on this subject very soon.
Complementarity with the other ATIBT commissions: As the topics dealt with in the Marketing Commission are more and more rich, it was decided to think about a better division of tasks with the Technical (e.g. the topic on Life Cycle Assessment) and Certification Commissions (with the approach of the FSC GA in Bali, PES issues, etc.).
Areas of strategic cooperation were discussed, in particular relations with the Chinese organizations GGSC and CTWPDA (following the Shanghai Forum), relations with FAO through the Sustainable Wood For a Sustainable World programme, among others.
Other topics were also discussed during the Commission, including (1) the proposal to set up a multimedia resource centre providing access, via a search engine, to the available documentation on sustainable forest management (COMIFAC – ATIBT tool), (2) the need to encourage the dissemination of the 8 F&I clips on the sites of companies and F&I partners, (3) the putting on line of the first official Fair&Precious brand partners and the continued recruitment of official Fair&Precious brand partners.
All the elements of this commission, and in particular the full report, are available on request for ATIBT members.
