Cotton Incorporated - Economics at Work - marketing efforts - Industry Overview
Author: Business Economics

"White Gold" is the historical and yet contemporarily appropriate term for cotton, the natural fiber that continues to play an important role in the U.S. economy. The King Cotton of yore remains a major industry in the United States, with business revenue stimulated by cotton in the nations economy estimated at some $120 billion--the greatest of any U.S. agricultural crop. To ensure the continued viability of this commodity, over thirty years ago U.S. cotton farmers founded Cotton Incorporated, a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing the demand for and profitability of cotton through research and promotion. It is located in central North Carolina.

Cotton Incorporated uses a unique "push/pull" approach to build demand for cotton textile and apparel products and to influence product development decisions. The company's objective can be achieved at several different points in the pipeline from cotton producer to apparel consumer. Company programs and activities target these "points of influence" in an effort to build demand for cotton. The "push/pull" approach involves working from both directions in the pipeline, driving consumer demand for cotton products and working with manufacturers and retailers to increase cotton usage by offering more and better cotton products to consumers. The organization employs a staff with technical expertise in fields including agricultural research, fiber processing, fabric development, and textile chemistry research to "push" adoption of novel technologies to producers and manufacturers for producing cotton and processing cotton products more effectively, efficiently, and profitably.

At the same time, Cotton Incorporated's emphasis on advertising, consumer marketing, and public relations programs is a fundamental tenet of its "pull" strategy to build demand by influencing consumers' buying behavior. This combined strategy has proven effective in the U.S. market, where cotton's share of the retail market has steadily risen from its 1973 nadir of thirty-five percent to over sixty percent today. As an economist for Cotton Incorporated, I have the unique opportunity to conduct research and contribute analysis and insight into issues that are vital to ensuring cotton's continued dominance as consumers' fiber of choice.