CherryHill Orchards has added Laava Smart Fingerprint technology to its cherry packaging for the 2020/21 Australian season as part of a new partnership with Lavaa.
The cherry producer is set to use the traceability technology combat counterfeiting and authenticate its premium produce with consumers in both Australia and export markets in Asia including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Korea.
Vanessa Tang, marketing manager of Cherry Hill Orchards, said that the rise of counterfeiting in the fresh produce industry is a growing concern for the brand and CherryHill wants to be at the forefront of protecting its brand against fakes.
“Australian cherries were not even ripe yet, and shoppers overseas were buying fakes labelled CherryHill - the cherries were not the real thing, and people were getting ripped off,” Tang said.
Gavin Ger, joint chief executive and commercial director of Laava, said the addition of Laava Smart Fingerprints on CherryHill boxes gives the brand an unprecedented level of protection, by offering consumers the opportunity to verify the authenticity of each individual box.
“It’s exciting for Laava to work with a business with such a strong focus on brand and consumer engagement as CherryHill. We’ve been partnering towards this goal since early this year. Vanessa and her team have put an enormous amount of effort into the design of their Laava-enabled secure smart labels, and raising consumer awareness via an innovative social media and promotional strategy,” said Ger.
“Cherries have a special place in many important celebrations, and they’re often purchased as gifts. CherryHill consumers will this year have the ability to confirm that the cherries they buy to give as gifts are the quality, premium fruit that CherryHill delivers.”
Consumers can scan the Fingerprint using their smartphone or Laava’s WeChat mini-programme, which takes them to a results screen verifying the product, or a ‘suspected counterfeit’ message.
The results screen also connects the consumer with the CherryHill brand story - photos of the orchards and fruit-picking, event invitations, and opportunities to engage more deeply.
The rollout of the Fingerprints has been accompanied by an extensive social media campaign in CherryHill’s Asian export markets, across platforms such as WeChat, Weibo, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.
The company said the campaign was already cutting through, with impressive engagement statistics, growing consumer awareness and increasing scan rates.
For more information CherryHill Orchards, Laava and the 2020/21 Australian cherry season be sure to read our upcoming December/January edition of Asiafruit magazine. If you’re not subscribed you can sign up here.
