Reed Publishing Creative And Design Exporter Award

Reed Publishing (NZ) Ltd Creative And Design Exporter Of The Year

Reed Publishing (NZ) Ltd, a company that’s achieved outstanding international success with its Sails Literacy learning system for children, has won the New Zealand Creative and Design Exporter of the Year Award.

The Auckland company beat off competition from natural bath and bodycare manufacturer Linden Leaves and infant accessory designer and marketer Outlook Baby Shade to take top honours in the creative and design category of the 2004 New Zealand Trade and Enterprise Export Awards. Outlook Baby Shade received a Judges Commendation in recognition of its innovative approach and customer focus.

The Export Awards were announced in Auckland on 23 July. They are sponsored by DHL. Reed was one of eight category winners, with New Zealand’s largest coal producer Solid Energy New Zealand winning the Supreme Exporter of the Year Award.

The Export Awards’ judges commented on the strong leadership and entrepreneurial approach of the winners. They said Reed was a “stand out company” with impressive systems and structures.

“As an organisation it has a very clear idea of its direction and is delivering well into some tough markets. The company’s leaders have taken a proactive approach to designing the organisation - from strategic planning and innovative HR approaches to the development of performance standards focused on the customer.”

Reed has had enormous export growth in recent years to achieve a record $7.7 million in foreign exchange earnings in 2003. This was driven by the success of its Sails Literacy learning system for children, says Export Manager Tracey Strudley.

The 600-title system was developed for a global audience by New Zealand educationalists Jill Eggleton and the late Jo Windsor. It takes a child from learning to read through to reading to learn.

“Our business model for selling educational products is quite different to most of our competitors, as we market the system rather than a bag of books,” explains Ms Strudley.

Reed has established the Sails series in 14 countries including the USA, Australia, Canada, Ireland, Singapore and South Africa. It plans to take it all over the world to countries that have compatible teaching methods.

Ms Strudley says Reed’s competitive advantage is built upon innovative products and supporting systems.

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