In 2005, 24 public and private sector partners, including the Trade Hub, founded the African Cashew Alliance. Today, the organization has more than three times as many members and its brand is internationally recognized. Its logo may even be coming to consumer products.

"The alliance truly represents the industry, that’s one reason why its brand is so strong,” said Carlos Costa, president of the ACA. “The ACA brand is now internationally recognized and has given the industry a voice in the global cashew sector.”

In September, the ACA is holding its fourth annual conference. Click here for more information.

Industry brands do not get as much attention as product brands but they can be crucial to the success of an industry. The Trade Hub’s work in targeted sectors is using industry brands to attract business to West Africa and, in the case of its work on trade policy, using social branding to inspire behavior change.

“As our brands gain recognition, they’re helping people see the opportunities in West Africa as opposed to the constraints,” said Trade Hub Director Vanessa Adams. “Those opportunities are more numerous than most people know.

“The brands draw international buyers and investors while building regional stakeholder coalitions. The goal is to support West African entrepreneurs leapfrog their daily struggles to compete.”

Coffee and cashews

In 2005, not everyone was convinced that an alliance would help the cashew industry. But because it would not cost much to try the idea, some skeptical donors were won over to the idea.

“No one could explain to me how exactly the ACA would increase exports and create jobs,” said one donor who wished to remain anonymous. “But for $15,000 or $20,000 in seed money, I was willing to take it on faith. And you had all these good people saying this is a good idea.”

Chances are most people would say those people have turned out to be right.

"This approach has proven to be effective in the past, as evidenced by the work done on Columbian coffee globally and almonds through the Almond  Board of California in the U.S.,” said Kraft Food’s Vice President for Social Responsibility, Steve Yucknut. “The ACA brand has the potential to represent a sustainable and very positive image of the African cashew industry.”

Yucknut was referring to the National Confederation of Coffee Growers of Colombia’s efforts to promote Colombian coffee.

About 40 years ago, the confederation used a fictional coffee grower, Juan Valdez, and his donkey, Conchita, to promote Colombian coffee with the tagline, “the richest coffee in the world.” The pair appeared in countless ads and soon consumers had bought into the idea that Colombian coffee is the best.

It worked spectacularly, earning Colombian farmers premium prices on the world coffee market, according to Taylor Clark’s Starbucked: A double tall tale of caffeine, commerce and culture. In the almond industry, the California Almond Board has achieved similar success for almonds.

After its cashew industry collapsed in 2000, part of the Mozambique cashew sector’s resurgence involved developing an industry brand, too.

Stakeholders quickly realized that collaboration was the key to rebuilding the industry. Not long after starting to work together they developed an industry brand – Zambique cashew – to carry the message forward: the Mozambican industry was back, its cashews were good quality and its companies were professional, ready to do business.

“The Zambique brand represented quality and a professional industry,” recalled Gerald Klijn of Global Trading, an international cashew broker, one of the partners to the brand and its exclusive marketing agent. “It gave the industry a way to tell the world about Mozambique’s great cashews.”

Industry brands have a variety of positive uses. The ACA brand has represented industry stakeholders sharing information and resources to promote processing of cashew in Africa. In other sectors, the Trade Hub has worked with partners to introduce industry brands that represent similar values.

The Global Shea brand, for example, has demonstrated with a few conferences and trade shows the potential force that speaking with a united voice would bring to the shea industry over time.

“The shea industry’s challenge was to find common ground in order to build a brand for stakeholders,” said Peter Lovett, the Trade Hub’s shea sector expert. “We did that at Global Shea 2010, the conference in Bamako, Mali in March. Promoting the use of shea internationally is a common goal that would benefit all stakeholders.”

In the home décor & fashion accessories sector, the Trade Hub worked with partners to develop AfricaNow!. The brand has attracted interest from international buyers. AfricaNow! represents quality and authentic products that come with a  story and are produced professionally.

“AfricaNow! helps companies by providing a platform for them to market their products,” said Elaine Bellezza, the Trade Hub’s home décor expert. “Exporting companies share a pavilion at trade shows that is branded AfricaNow! and that gives them much more visibility.”

Jim Thaller of Talier Trading Group has used Taste of Africa, a brand the Trade Hub developed with partners, to promote food products from Africa. It’s important, he said, that industry’s trying to brand themselves do so collectively and that governments support their efforts.

“Industry branding is something best left to the organizations and government entities out there – no private company can afford to support an entire industry,” he said. “Why government groups don’t do more to promote cashews, shea or other crops that are grown everywhere is beyond me.”

Ultimately, branding an industry can lead to increased business, too, even if the brand seems too hidden from consumers to matter. The Columbian coffee industry’s success is one example.

Promoting free trade

Branding is a diverse endeavor – almost anything can be branded. Publicis Ghana developed the Borderless brand to inspire governments, stakeholders and the general public to remove the barriers to trade in the region.

Trade barriers litter West Africa, taking many forms – from road checkpoints where drivers are harassed to pay bribes and the movement of goods delayed, to the lack of harmonized implementation of the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme. Removing trade barriers would have many benefits.

The advertising agency began by reviewing the Trade Hub’s work on the issue and interviewing staff working on it.

“We were able to stand back and see that the bigger picture of the Trade Hub’s efforts was in fact a West Africa in which trade flows efficiently and unconstrained, with free flow from Tema to Timbuktu and beyond,” said Kofi Amoo-Gottfried of Publicis Ghana. “We wanted to create a compelling shorthand for that vision. Borderless represents that vision in a memorable fashion.”

Since then, the Trade Hub has introduced Borderless across the region to address the problem of checkpoints that delay and add expense to transport and to remove trade barriers due, among other reasons, to non-harmonized trade policies between countries and related problems.

“The Borderless brand helps people understand the substance of the problem, and connect emotionally to our vision of a West Africa with efficient trade,” Amoo-Gottfried explained. “It attracts attention and then builds awareness through other materials, like the website.”

Ultimately, brands connect people to ideas or raise awareness. Whether for industry or for social issues, brands have significant impacts.