Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of interviews with the people who represent the alcohol beverage industry in Washington.
Obviously, Robert M. Tobiassen, the new president of the National Association of Beverage Importers, wants to make sure the organization serves the needs of its members. That’s a bit harder to do than it might seem, given that Distilled Spirits Council has its own international trade department, as does Wine Institute, as well as larger budgets.
But those associations represent suppliers, whose trade interests are largely focused on shipping their products to overseas markets. NABI represents importers, who may also be suppliers. But they could just as well be wholesalers or, in some cases, even retailers.
Tobiassen wants NABI to be a center of expertise in alcohol and nonalcohol importing. That addition of “nonalcohol” is a smart move, given the current trend to low-alcohol and no-alcohol beverages, such as Heineken 0.0.
“We’re fortunate to have a defined role, importing,” Tobiassen told us. “We represent all commodities.”
“The government was paying me for 34 years to develop expertise” that can now benefit the importing community, the former chief counsel for Alcohol & Tobacco Tax & Trade Bureau told us. “We aim to be that body of expertise in importation in advance of a problem.”
It’s not enough to react to some development, he said. Some proposals could destroy a brand or a reputation. “You have to be able to contain the situation. You have to have reached out to establish relations with embassies, trade agencies and chambers of commerce before the situation develops.”
By developing relations with many different entities, Tobiassen expects to be able to learn that a problems relations only to a specific brand. “If I can get information quickly, if I can ‘get down into the weeds’, into the specific details,” he said, “I can protect the product and the brand – and the consumer.”
One of his goals is to have NABI recognized as the expert on any import issue, enabling it to help protect both brand reputations and consumers. In doing so, he hopes to make his members’ lives easier.
To achieve those goals, he would like to hire an economist and a communications expert. That would beef up NABI’s capabilities to advocate for its members.
Tobiassen sees NABI being able to support the big players – Distilled Spirits Council, Wine Institute, Diageo, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Heineken, etc. – all have in-house importing expertise, while also being especially valuable to smaller importers. NABI’s dues are reasonable, he suggests, enabling small importers to tap the organization’s expertise for as little as $2,000 to $4,000 a month.
That base of small members is especially important, he says, “because I know small importers will get the attention of Congress more effectively” than Washington–based lobbyists. It’s a strategy National Beer Wholesalers Association uses effectively every year, sending an army of beer wholesalers from nearly every Congressional district to Capitol Hill to advance the industry’s agenda with Congress.
At the same time, he sees value for the larger importers. Washington, he said, is its own creature, and “just because you’re big doesn’t mean you know Washington” or how it works.