Thank you Jim for your introduction and for the opportunity to be part of the National Cotton Council?s 2002 Annual Meeting.
For the past month and a half, I have presented at a number of state and regional producer and ginner meetings, as well as at the Beltwide, on the topic of research and promotion activities of Cotton Incorporated.
There are probably many of you who have been at one or more of those meetings. And rather than repeat those general remarks about our program, I decided to do something a little different. What I will do in the time I have this morning is to cover a few of what I believe are some important activities of the company and then through a video, take you behind the scenes to show you the philosophy and development of two new cotton commercials that have only recently aired.
Research remains an important part of Cotton Incorporated?s programs?perhaps more important than ever before as a means of addressing industry profitability. In 2001, Cotton Incorporated continued to emphasize programs in agricultural research, with more than 300 core and state support activities aimed at yield and quality improvement, analysis of production systems, insect and weed management, production inputs and cottonseed research. The ag research division is the only division that has seen an increase in its program budget in recent years. Furthermore, in late 2001, we initiated a cotton breeding and genetics program that will fully get underway in 2002. Some important goals of this program include:
- accelerate germplasm development and enhancement
- expand non-commercial public germplasm availability to the public breeders
- emphasize output traits such as fiber quality and yield
- contribute to the development of a new generation of cotton breeders
Basically, the idea is that Cotton Incorporated will be looking at areas that are in need of additional emphasis and are important building blocks for the commercialization of new cotton varieties. The ultimate goal is to work with the industry to provide better and more profitable varieties faster to U.S. cotton growers. In late 2001, we hired a new vice president of Agricultural Research, Dr. Roy Cantrell, who comes to us with a solid breeding and genetics background.
The textile research effort addressed issues related to cotton spinning, fiber management, dyeing and finishing research, textile chemistry and fabric development. In other words, the complete chain, from laydown to finished fabric. One area of particular importance in today?s market is fabric development. Retailers and manufacturers continue to look for new ideas. Our challenge is coming up with new fabrics using the same fiber processed on essentially the same machinery. In 2001, we developed hundreds of knitted and woven fabrics using all cotton or mostly cotton in our efforts to help cotton compete with the synthetic fibers. Our fabric library today houses more than 4500 fabrics. Last year we had over 20,000 sample requests.
From all accounts, it appears that a higher percentage of the cotton we grow will be destined for the export market in the future. Our global marketing team works in the U.S. and around the world on behalf of U.S. cotton. From our offices in Mexico, Shanghai, Osaka and Singapore, we provide technical, fashion and informational services to the customers of U.S. cotton around the world. In 2001, the partnership with CCI was particularly successful with programs such as the CBI Summit, aimed at bringing together the U.S. textile industry, CBI manufacturers and U.S. importers.
Working with U.S. retailers is perhaps one of our biggest challenges. When you see the Seal of Cotton on cotton merchandise, it is likely the result of a partnership between Cotton Incorporated and the retailer to help promote the product?s cotton content. New programs were initiated in 2001 with companies like Federated Department Stores, Wal-Mart, Belk?s and Targets to name a few.
Of course the program with the highest visibility is consumer promotion. The U.S. market for cotton has been, by far, the strongest of any in the world. Our market has grown from about 13 million bales in 1991 to nearly 20 million bales in 2001. Consumer promotion has played a role in this success.
In 2001, we were faced with a new challenge. The Fabric of Our Lives campaign was 3 years old, which is old by advertising standards. However, the commercials were still well received by consumers ,which indicated that a complete overall was unnecessary. Because of budget limitations, we were forced to focus on a narrower target audience, women 18 to 34. This necessitated refreshing at least part of the advertising.
The challenge was:
- appeal to youth and women but don?t turn off other consumers
- make the music more contemporary but make it recognizable as cotton music
- show cotton in a multitude of fabrics and colors but don?t overwhelm the audience
- play up the casual lifestyle and utilize the Seal of Cotton
- make it interesting but do it in 30 second
