In search of the holy grail

I am often asked “what makes your Native Shetland Lamb special?” If I could answer that question succinctly, I would have found the words to convey The Unique Selling Point of Briggs’ Shetland Lamb. I have yet to find my USP, the holy grail of marketing any product.

My quest started at Highlands & Islands Enterprise who got me thinking about the intellectual assets of my business. Why I believe Native  Shetland Lamb has exceptional qualities and how I manage my business to maintain product quality. Research commissioned by Shetland Islands Council and participation NHS Shetland’s dietary health improvement project got me thinking about Native Shetland Lamb as a healthy option.

Through the Linked-In network I was recommended to attend the  Food Health Innovation Service AGM in March 2011. This proved good advice because, at the coffee networking opportunity, before the meeting started, I was introduced to a researcher who was able to suggest how I might answer my two questions: -

• Does Native Shetland Lamb have unique properties to contribute to a healthy diet?
  
• Can scientific analysis of Native Shetland Lamb Meat explain the eating qualities that my customers seem to value?
  

With the FHIS staff on hand I was able to begin the application process to my join their Ignite Programme, which facilitates building relationships between micro-businesses and academic researchers. Teamed up three other micro-businesses, FHIS staff mentored us as a group before discussing our individual projects in private session. For me it was a discussion with Helen Glass to sort the wheat from the chaff of my ideas. My proposal was then passed to Siobhan Jordon of Interface who would act as go between to initiate my collaboration with a research  team.

So it was that I have started working with The Rowett Institute of Nutrition and  Health in Aberdeen. My aim is to learn about the latest research on the meat qualities attributable to extensive grazing systems and participate in RINH’s current research. The product of these two initiatives will be used to refine the terms of reference for a project next year whose objective is to relate the scientific analysis of Native Shetland Lamb meat to tasting notes.