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The Association of Sales and Marketing Companies Australasia [AMSCA] turns 21 this year and will honour it original stakeholders at its annual conference on the Gold Coast next month. Formerly known as the Australian Food Brokers Association [AFBA], the body was formed in 1983 when a group of like-minded food brokers organised themselves into an association that could promote the benefits to manufacturers of outsourcing the sales function. The new body was also able promote discussion on setting minimum standards that a broking firm should adhere to.

Those early members were: Shann Evans of W H Evans Perth, Scott Burfitt of SEB Sales Adelaide, John Sharman of Product Marketing Enterprises Hobart, Jim Watson of Tempo Brokerage Brisbane,
Bill King of W K King Sales Sydney and Don Kay of Superbrokers and Ian Scott of Scott Marketing both based in Melbourne.

According to Shann Evans, they were pioneering days and he was the only food broker or sales agent from WA that was initially interested in the concept of an association. He told Retail World that once it was established other Perth brokers were keen to get on board. 'After the association was formed we worked in our own states to get interest from other brokers and establish meetings in our own area. We left most of the running of the association to the people in Sydney and Melbourne in the early days' said Mr Evans.

Messrs. King, Scott and Burfitt are still involved in the industry whilst John Sharman retired in 1999 the same year as Don Kay. Shan Evans is still the owner of WH Evans but is not active in the day-to-day running of the business. Most of these early company names have altered somewhat or disappeared entirely. Product Marketing Enterprises is now part of the Strategic National Group and where the Tasmanian operation is run by John Sharman’s son-in-law Vin Goldsmith. WK King Sales has evolved into Strikeforce NSW and is run by Bill King’s son Anthony leaving Mr. King, Sr. to run the importing business, Grocery Corporation.

Melbourne food industry stalwart Don Kay, an ex Heinz sales director and long-term business partner Kevin Luscombe who ran Luscombe and Partners advertising agency, set up Superbrokers based on the US food broker model in vogue in the late 1970's. After many years of successful trading, they sold Superbrokers to Nationwide Brokers in 1999 and Mr Kay retired to travel around Australia. Nationwide subsequently sold out to Crossmark-Asia Pacific in 2002.

All of the original seven founding signatories to the AFBA have been invited to this year's conference and will be honoured at the black tie Chairman’s Dinner. John Sharman who represented Tasmanian interests in the early days told Retail World that after being retired form the brokerage game for the past seven years he was looking forward to sharing some memories of the early days of the association when business demands were much more relaxed that today.

Mr Sharman said that the formation of an organised group did more than might be imagined today. ‘The AFBA filled a need that was not being met when it launched’ he told Retail World, 'many manufacturers did not think about outsourcing, so an association that would promote it, and at the same time give the members the opportunity to meet and discuss trends and trade developments was sorely needed’.

The Early Years.

The AFBA was established as and incorporated body under the NSW Corporations act when it formed in 1983. Under its articles of association there was no such thing as a state chapters but the informal meetings which started to blossom around the country are credited with ensuring that the fledgling association survived the early years of existence.

The state chapter's role was twofold. It organised meetings for the locals brokers allowing them to discuss local trade matters, well before the advent of national buying, and also allowed them to voice their opinion on what the national body was, or was not, achieving. The informal arrangement to invite the state presidents to apply for election as directors of AFBA’s national body continued until 2002.

Tasmania was the last state to organise a state chapter and its inaugural President was Paul Wagner of Action Marketing who held his first chapter meeting in 1997. All states other than Western Australia and Tasmania have had one of their members hold the role of National President, as it was called, or Chairman, the current title.

Some of the first achievements lay in the promotion of the use of brokers or merchandising services. Back in the 80’s all the retailers and wholesalers operated with individual state buying offices. The NSW chapter had developed a small, concise brochure explaining what services a food broker provided, selling the benefits of outsourcing. These brochures were placed in all NSW buying office foyers paving the way for the national foyer brochure program, which was launched in 1993. Each state had its own membership list on the back page of the brochure supplementing the general information inside. The program is credited with generating many inquiries from prospective brokerage clients, and new many clients gained from the program are still represented by brokers today.

The 1990’s

This was a decade of change for the AFBA. It saw the launch of the Universal Buying Forms and UBF software program at the 1994 Supermarket Show at Darling Harbour Sydney. As part of the show’s series of seminars, the association presented the reason for using food brokers. Key presenters were Keith Bray of the Canadian Food Brokers association and the marketing manager of what has now become Carter Holt, which back then had just launched Purex toilet tissue into the Australian market using brokers.

The second part of the seminar saw then National Vice President Daryl Sheriff present the association’s rationale for developing the standard buying form and demonstrate how to use the software. The first shipments of the software were made January 1995. It was also capable of up-loading data to the GEMMnet catalogue promoted by Woolworths during 1995-7.

During the late 1990’s a UBF Industry Review group formed to manage the transition from the original A3 form, to the current Universal Item Submission Form and Universal Price Change Form which are still in use today. A module to work with the original release of EANnet in 1997 was also developed and released in 1999.

In the 90's the AFBA had a service called QRPS, which stood for 'Quick Response- Principal Seeking' designed to allow prospective principals to find a broker in the shortest amount of time. The system worked by a broadcast fax to all members detailing the nature of the inquiry from the company seeking a broker. Members replied to the Secretariat and a list of those interested was supplied to the client. Among the many successful users of the system was Parmalat, which entered the Australian market in 1997 using the system.
QRPS has evolved into the Principal Seeking system, which is a part of ASMCA's interactive website that was launched in 2002.

ASMCA Name change and Structure.

During the late 1990’s the overseas broker organisation changed their names to drop the words food broker changing to sales and marketing companies. AFBA resisted calls from a segment of its membership for a change for some time. The 2001 annual conference in Adelaide voted on a motion for a name change but the vote was tied and the motion was not carried.

Vigorous debate took place on the merits of change with proponents for change voicing the opinion that a significant number of member’s business names did not contain the words ‘food’ or ‘broker’ and that these words might seem restrictive to new and emerging service industries including demo companies, research organisations and labour hire companies.

The AFBA brand had been built up over many years through the existence of UBF and other trade activity and that it that it should not be tampered with. This view changed however in 2003, when a majority of members approved a change to Association of Sales and Marketing Companies Australasia, reflecting the fact that the association has three members based in New Zealand. Since the name change, several additional members that do not sell to the traditional grocery market have joined ASMCA.

At the same time as the name change, the articles of association were rewritten to comply with a more modern organisation and to include the structure of office bearers that had evolved. Rather than have state presidents, the directors have areas of responsibility or portfolios in an endeavour to better service and inform the members.

The ASMCA website was upgraded in 2002 to allow additional search options for prospective principals to find a broker most suitable for their requirements.

Past Presidents.

Former Presidents of the association are Don Kay, Bill King, John Matheson, Ian Scott, Wal Jennings, Keith Quigg, John Rishworth, Phil Streng, Dave Jewry and current incumbent Adrian Luxford. During the term of Wal Jennings 1993-1995, a broker study tour to the NFBA in the United States was organised to see how the brokers were dealing with technology issues. This led to a number of the current large members addressing issues such as EDI, hand held computerised field reporting and invoicing systems that might not otherwise be in place today.

Early Presidents Don Kay, Bill King and Ian Scott did not have the same technology issues to deal and were able to spend time developing the standard contract used by all members to sign up clients and in developing the code of conduct under which all members were to operate. These early presidents were also responsible for promoting membership so that the organisation gained strength by numbers. Mr Scott served two terms, whilst Mr. Kay was the most prolific office bearer with five years under his belt.

Phil Streng of Strikeforce SA, was Chairman through until 2000 and is the association’s longest serving director, continuing first under Dave Jewry’s term and then under Adrian Luxford. During Mr Streng’s term as Chairman, one of the achievements was a regrowth of membership and restructuring of fees. Additional communication with state chapters by a series of special state presentations was critical in shoring up what was in danger of becoming a splintered organisation. A sign of the successful campaign was that members that were threatening to leave the organisation in fact increased their mutual obligation and commitment to stabilise the organisation.

The Secretariat:

The AFBA managed without any office support for the first two years of operation. In 1985 Henry Gordon, then recently retired from the Woolworths head office was given the part time role of looking after the day to day administration and support to the national executive. Mr Gordon retired from the role in 1994.

From 1993 to 2001, David Burton [the author] acted as first secretary and then an expanded role as Executive Director and was actively involved in the promotion of the UBF system as well as developing relations with the overseas broker and sales and marketing agencies. During this time, the AFBA also served on industry working parties developing standards and procedures for product recalls, EDI, and the original EANnet. This involvement gave the retailers and manufacturers a perspective of how the food broker/sales agency community fits into the bigger picture of the supply chain.

Former National President Keith Quigg now runs the day-to-day affairs of the association from offices in Brisbane and is also involved in sales and merchandiser training for the membership as well as suppliers. Mr. Quigg has also written the Strategic Plan for the association for 2002-2006, which has been adopted by the board. During his current time in office the ASMCA has, through the work long-term director Phil Streng completely rewritten the articles of association.

Membership:

According to John Matheson New Member Director, the number of members has fluctuated over the years. It was at its highest levels prior to Woolworths' move to national buying when it was necessary to have an individual broker for each state buying office. The number of members reached the high 70's and fell as low as 27 in the mid 1990's when there was disagreement among the states as the direction being taken by the national board.

Mr. Matheson said all this is a thing of the past and membership has been stable for the past two years. Recent new members to the association include Kaper Trading in Perth and Red Hot Pears in NSW. Currently membership stands at fifty-five state and national companies.
The association is keen to here from any prospective new members, including former members, and associated service companies such as demonstration and merchandising companies interested in obtaining professional industry representation and being part of a common voice.

Hall of Fame:

At the 2003 ASMCA conference two inaugural Hall of Fame inductees were recognised for their service to the brokerage industry and the association over the years. They were Bill King of W K King Sales, now Strikeforce and Don Kay of Superbrokers. New inductees will be added on an annual basis if nominations are received from the membership.

The future:

The current Chairman of the ASMCA Adrian Luxford will be working with the board to ensure its ongoing relevance to members and retailers by maintaining key relationships with all sectors of the market and expanding the present associate member base. One of the key initiatives introduced in the new structure was the member survey. This allows the association to better understand its importance to the industry and sell its members strengths & services. The latest figures for the group show that it is possibly the largest employer of sales and merchandising personnel in the industry and it is responsible for $5.2 billion in merchandised goods or approx 15% of retail grocery sales. There are plans to workshop the potential to leverage ASMCA members' total field forces of 3500 plus people into a service that could be utilised in product recalls, servicing the merchandising needs of retailers.

Another critical area for ASMCA's long-term future is a more aggressive role in lobbying on behalf of its members and small manufacturers as the number of special interest industry bodies diminishes and has clearly been the primary driver in a number of important changes to retailers’ policy.
Mr. Luxford said that the ASMCA is keen to champion the cause of the smaller members as well as the national groups. He told Retail World that the smaller members are clearly very strategic to the market and while there is concern by some that the market is being dominated by large organisations these smaller firms are still as relevant today as in the beginning and offer specific services not only to their present client base but also to the smaller state manufacturers and innovative start-ups. '

According to Mr Luxford, the ASMCA’s review of merchandising standards, inclusive of new retail occupational Health & safety programmes being introduced by different retailers will also bring unique challenges to the organisation moving into the next 3 to 5 years. ‘The need for manufacturers to gain a clear understanding of what resources and skills are now needed to deliver effective results in the evolving and ever changing environment will be essential but the need for the sales & marketing companies to meet these expectations and demands will be paramount for the viability of the association.’ said Mr Luxford.

Retail World will report on the ASMCA conference in the November 8 issue.

Author
David Burton