With 25 years of brand and marketing management experience in New Zealand and the U.K, Andrea Wilkins began her successful career at Progressive Enterprises and Coca Cola Amatil. She then worked in breweries in both the U.K and New Zealand, before moving to Fonterra where she was responsible for the brand’s global brand portfolio in adult nutrition.
Wilkins had been in the dairy industry for a few years when she first heard about sheep dairying as a concept, and that there were a couple of entrepreneurs working with Pāmu who were set on producing and selling sheep milk in New Zealand.
“I was inspired by their ambition, innovation and their approach to animal welfare and sustainability. I felt this could have huge potential and was keen to get involved.”
Today, she is the chief marketing officer of Spring Sheep Milk Co. For Wilkins, there is never a dull moment in her position as she is passionate about helping the company put New Zealand sheep dairying on the global stage.
Spring Sheep Milk Co’s co-founders, Nick Hammond and Scottie Chapman remain huge inspirations for Wilkins.
“They saw an opportunity for a sheep dairying industry seven years ago and today, the industry is in a huge growth phase and is scaling up at a rapid pace.”
She is also inspired by the passion and dedication of Cam Ravenwood at Fernglen Farms.
“If you haven’t tried their sheep milk yoghurt, you should. It’s amazing.”
Her biggest takeaway from Hammond, Chapman and Raven, is that successful food and beverage brands all bring some kind of added value to the table.
“It’s not enough to rely on our New Zealand story. It’s great as a way to get your foot in the door, but you need more than that to succeed. You need to bring some kind of added value or benefit to the table, be that in functionality, beautiful design, a compelling story, or a differentiated proposition.
Outside of the dairy industry, Wilkins cites Angus Brown and his creation of brainfood technology company Ārepa, as well as Tim Brown’s development of sustainable footwear brand Allbirds, as her inspirations.
A piece of wisdom she wishes she could share with her younger self is that big corporations are fantastic places to learn. Although she never formally studied marketing, Wilkins learned everything she knows about brand management and marketing strategy through working.
“Established brands usually have developed some really good sales, marketing and innovation processes and frameworks. Soak those all up, they’ll come in handy one day.”
Wilkins’ advice for anyone interested in working in marketing, or the dairy industry is to ask questions.
“Stay curious and spend as much time as possible in the market. Don’t solely rely on formal research, my most valuable lessons and consumer insights came from being on the ground - walking the streets and supermarket aisles, talking to people.”
