Where are they?: Travelling from Sir Woolf to St John

From “Hoover University” to being F&P’s first rep in Nepal – Richard Blundell (above) has achieved and still is achieving much. Merv Robertson finds out more.

Richard Blundell was never your typical F&P staffer. He fraternised with the enemy, he called on wholesalers and he even had a feed of fish and chips with a notorious discounter (one Noel Leeming). 

Born in Wellington, 1947, Richard attended Huntly Boarding School in Marton and Christ’s College before moving on to Victoria University and a new degree called a BCA. 

He recalls: “It was modelled on an American Business School. It had five core subjects, one of which was ‘quantitative analysis’, the new maths. I doubt if I would have ever managed to graduate but I was saved the agony when at short notice my family moved to London in 1968.”

Blundell worked a stint at New Zealand Shipping in East London’s docklands, qualifying as a member of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers, a skill or facility he has never used (looks great on the CV however).

An introduction to Sir Woolf Fisher was to change his life forever. “Sir Woolf had a great mate called Sir Peter Boon, an Aussie who was the boss of Hoover worldwide – which was the entire world outside America. A big deal! Sir Peter offered me a London job as a temporary trainee on £17.12.4, hours as necessary. I was so lucky!” 

Richard Blundell’s time at Hoover was like being at a business university. “They moved me through all the disciplines in many parts of the UK. I learned selling, training, spare parts and manufacturing. They sent me to South Africa for three months for the launch of a new Hoovermatic washer which was also coming to New Zealand. All the while I kept updating Sir Woolf – always got a reply too.”

Home again with Hoover, then F&P

In late 1970, Fisher offered Richard a job as a Hoover salesman in New Zealand and he came home. “Sir Woolf told me that if I didn’t take this opportunity there probably wouldn’t be another one later on so I got on my bike and headed back. Frankly, I was ready to come home and so I became a Hoover rep working for Fisher & Paykel. 

“F&P had a strange setup in those days with agencies out to the side of the core business. Ian Calderwood was doing Murphy brown goods, Lex Djiekman was the Necchi sewing machine man, Simon Caughey, Richard Souness and Graham Lockery were in export and I was Hoover. 

“I was fortunate to move around a bit and in 1972 I did my first export trip spending seven weeks away. I remember spending a morning trying to sell F&P hospital humidifiers in Singapore without knowing what they did or how they worked before selling refrigerators to established dealers in the afternoon. Then I became the first F&P rep to visit Nepal, a singularly unsuccessful event as I recall.”

The subjects of Where are they now? often speak about mentors. Richard Blundell is no exception: “I’ll tell you a story which illustrates the Fisher & Paykel partnership at work. The Nepal trip was delayed a little because Sir Peter Boon was visiting. We went to lunch at the Fisher estate, Ra Ora. Sir Woolf was sick but wanted to personally brief me. He lay on a sofa facing away from me with a heater warming his back. 

“He spoke to me for a long time and I reckon I could have sold ice cream to Eskimos after that, he was so inspirational. Mr Paykel had joined us for lunch and in the toilet of all places, he gave me a man-to-man lecture on how to behave myself in the loose markets of Asia. So there you had the two partners, both motivating a young man. It was a real lesson.”

Sir Woolf Fisher and his founding partner, Maurice Paykel, were well known and highly respected for their ethical approach to business and Richard Blundell confirms that. “A few of our export customers were a bit dodgy and requested dual invoicing. You know – one invoice for Customs and a different one for the books... F&P just would not accept that stuff, even if it meant losing an order.”

The next significant change in Richard Blundell’s career was when Sir Woolf Fisher asked him to take up sales training. “We had an established training school at the Mt Wellington headquarters which had been set up by Bill Donovan. We continued with the programme but also took it on the road so that more F&P retail sales people had access to selling techniques and product knowledge. Lots of fun!

“Whilst all that was going on I had further export trips and then the company put something called Marketing Services in place. This was to do the marketing for National, later Panasonic, and whiteware. I ran Marketing Services for while and really enjoyed it, learned heaps. This was also my first introduction to Matsushita which is now the Panasonic Corporation. I have always enjoyed studying companies and it was fascinating to look at Matsushita in-depth. It was a unique company with a personality all of its own and the founder, Konosuke Matsushita, was still alive then.”

In 1983 F&P was divisionalised. Whiteware was broken out into refrigeration and laundry and Richard Blundell became Marketing Manager for laundry, launching the famous Gentle Annie. Then in 1986, Don Rowlands, now heading up F&P, established Corporate Affairs, another move for Richard. 

F&P becomes a brand in its own right

Blundell says that Corporate Affairs was “tremendously exciting”. “New Zealand was seen as sexy for investors at the time and there were lots of opportunities to foster investor relations internationally and I just loved promoting a company and a country, both of which I was enormously proud.”

Promotions included heading up the campaign for the yacht Fisher & Paykel New Zealand in the 1989-90 Round the World Race, known then as the Whitbread. Blundell “ended up doing that for four years. This was extremely successful from a commercial perspective.” 

Until this time, Fisher & Paykel never really promoted its company name. “We promoted our brands such as Whiteway, Kelvinator etc. In fact, back then, in company recognition surveys, Fisher & Paykel rated at 4%. F&P had not long gone public and the primary objectives of the yacht racing venture were to raise the profile of the company and to launch the Fisher & Paykel brand name. 

“We had a massive advertising and promotional programme leading up to the Whitbread. By the time the boat left Auckland on that first adventure, our company recognition had leaped to the high 80 percents. By the time [the boat] came back, we were in the mid 90s, from a 4% base. Remarkable! It also paved the way for a very successful launch of the brand in Australia.”

Not shy but retiring – life after F&P

All good things come to an end, and in 2001, when Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was separated off, Richard Blundell was offered early retirement. He set up a small communications company and was involved in several projects. 

“Most memorable I guess, was working with the Eden Park Trust Board during the 2005 British & Irish Lions rugby tour. I was instrumental in starting the move to get people using public transport to get to the park.” 

At a Rotary function one evening, he was captivated by a speech. “The theme was ‘Learning, Earning & Returning’, in which it was opined that you are always learning, but your earning is like a bell graph where the bubble peaks at the top and diminishes as we get older. As it goes down, you have to start returning. 

“Well, I have been involved in charities most of my life, starting with my mother at jumble sales in aid of Birthright. Maurice Paykel got me involved in the Blood Foundation, I was on the committee which organised the rebuilding of Auckland Cathedral and was heavily involved with the Heart Foundation. I guess that part of my life is the returning part.”

In 2004, Richard Blundell joined St John and earlier this year he was elected Chairman of the Northern Region. He is very passionate about St John and eloquent about its sheer scope and breadth. 

St John is a charity. Funding comes from the many nationwide area committees raising money locally, Community Trusts, legacies and bequests, the commercial activity, and also (for ambulance operational costs) from the Government. Unfortunately there as a $14 million shortfall in the Government’s contribution which the charity makes up. 

So, memories aplenty for Richard Blundell. He has contributed much to our industry and now his considerably energy, his passion and his engaging personality are channelled into doing good for others. Long may this continue.  

Addendum: "Bastards I have met…"

Barry Crump wrote a book called Bastards I have met. Richard Blundell could write one called Industry Characters I have met. There have been far too many to recall here but Blundell decided to have a crack.

“Legends! In those days we really did have characters. Take Dennis O’Brien in Invercargill. The promotional stunts that guy came up with were extraordinary. Then there was Major Neill in Dunedin. The Major, father of Sam Neill, was a formidable man and he had an office of immense proportions. 

“Wrightson Appliances had many well-known characters, such as Des O’Neill in Invercargill, John Major in Hamilton and of course Ken Clarke in their head office, one of the most principled men I ever knew. 

“Noel Leeming was a hard man, but a fair man and like me, he was a petrol head. Eddie Thompson in Timaru, Jim Powell in Christchurch, Neil Ellery on the Coast, Alan Martin and the Newbolds in Wellington, Brian Watt in Palmy, ‘gentleman’ Ted Holland in Wanganui, Jack Agnew in Hastings, Bob Holden in New Plymouth… God, I could go on all day…

“In Auckland there was Roly Magness, Wes Burns, Ralph Roberts, Graeme Price and Merv Adair.” Merv Adair was an accomplished pianist and on a memorable occasion was playing in a band at the Mandalay in Newmarket where Richard Blundell was attending a Fisher & Paykel dinner. 

“These were grand affairs and I remember at one point, late in the night, an elderly man went over to the stage, tugged on the band leader’s trousers and asked for the music to be quieter. 

“The band leader turned to this chap and told him to ‘piss off because 1100 other people are having a great time’. Poor old Merv Adair could see his F&P franchise disappearing down the tubes because this elderly chap was none other than Sir Woolf Fisher.”