New brand to help crack open macadamia market
Chief executive Larry McHugh said it was an exciting time and the culmination of many years of hard work.
Bundaberg
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Marquis - it's a noble ranking and the new name for Pacific Gold Macadamias and their Lismore counterparts.
Marquis Macadamias is the new brand set to encompass Macadamia Processing Company and PGM and their marketing arm, formerly Macadamia Marketing International.
Still entirely grower owned, Marquis is reportedly growing almost 50 per cent of Australia's macadamia production.
Chief executive Larry McHugh said it was an exciting time and the culmination of many years of hard work and they had no intention of slowing down.
He said the global industry was growing "very fast" with forecasts predicting the world crop would double in the next five years and they needed to be able to grow and adapt with the global market.
A macadamia under its array of names still tastes as sweet, but a single name was needed to streamline the multifaceted macadamia company under one identity.
So, how does one pick a name for two macadamia companies and an international marketing business?
It's taken years of research and refining their image to ensure they crack the brand recognition code.
"We've done a lot of research work over the last year. When we first started, we wanted something that really stood out, something that people would actually say 'that's unusual', because we wanted to be remembered," Mr McHugh said.
"There are a lot of other macadamia names around but they just don't stand out.
"We wanted something that talked about the luxury of our product. It is a premium product and we want to keep it that way.
"We wanted a name we can put on a pack when we start doing our own retail products or different sort of products with macadamias included - we wanted a name that stands out on the shelf."
And all while promoting leadership and their status in the Australian market.
"We're a leader in our industry, we have 48 per cent market share in Australia and sell 25 per cent of the world's kernel, but it's not easy to be seen as a leader when you've got so many different faces," he said.
"The future is strong for our companies, but we'll be much stronger if all the parts of the supply chain see us as one entity."
Mr McHugh said he had been in the industry since 1992, seeing a lot of changes along the way and "this is one of the big ones".
"It's been a very, very challenging process but we're very pleased with the outcome," he said.
Choosing to launch the new brand in Bundaberg, Mr McHugh said they had a big grower base here with the second biggest factory in Australia.
He said they wanted to talk to growers and the Bundaberg community given the impact the industry has locally.
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