INI Farms, one of India’s leading integrated banana and pomegranate marketers, has this week rolled out its new range of fresh fruits targeted at kids with Tesco Star Bazaar.
The official launch took place on Children’s Day (Monday 14 November), with all Star Bazaar outlets offering free Kimaye fruit to kids visiting the stores.
INI Farms’ has been promoting its fresh fruit consumer brand Kimaye for some time with a focus on safe food for Indian consumers. But the new Kimaye for kids range has been introduced with special packaging to appeal directly to kids, and to promote fruit consumption among children.
“While all parents want their children to consume fruits, there are two main issues that come upfront – firstly whether the fruits are even safe to consume, and secondly, children don’t eat them readily as they find them ‘plain and boring’,” Purnima Khandelwal, CEO of INI Farms, told Asiafruit. “So these were our main drivers when we delved into this range.”
The Kimaye for kids range features “fun characters” for each fruit, so that children can identify with them and “find an amusing angle to associate with them”, she notes. The products are also underpinned by food safety and quality assurances.
“The Kimaye range has been picked directly at farms under ultra-hygienic conditions and the fruits are certified for their quality,” she said. “The range is the answer for parents – an assurance of being safe and making it easier for them to encourage children to eat healthy.”
The products have been launched exclusively with Tesco Star Bazaar outlets, reaching 37 stores across Mumbai, Bangalore and Pune. INI plans to launch them with other retailers in multiple cities through November and December.
Currently featuring bananas, pomegranates and pomegranate arils, INI is set to expand the range to include pineapples soon, according to Khandelwal.
“The depiction of fruits as fun and happy characters is acting like a magnet for kids,” she said. “Free stickers are also being provided with baby bananas to ensure that the kids enjoy the experience of eating fruits. We’re promoting the range through posters, danglers, wobblers, floor stickers, arches and other point-of-sale (POS) materials.”
While 'fun events' for children and free fruit distribution are cornerstones of the campaign, Khandelwal said it is a “multi-pronged” strategy covering social media, traditional media and in-store promotions. “The social media campaign is designed to spread awareness about food safety – and this is planned for a period of two years,” she noted. “In-store promotions will have intensive activities, which are event specific as well as POS communication over one month at each retail chain.”
Jamshed Daboo, managing director of Trent Hypermarket, which operates the Tesco Star Bazaar stores, hailed the new initiative. “We are glad to associate with INI Farms for an exclusive launch of Kimaye Fruits, which are certified for food safety and specially packed for kids. Through this initiative, we are reaching out to a young audience, encouraging them to eat fresh and eat right,” he said in media release.
“As a brand, fresh food is a focus for us and we are working towards creating partnerships that bring our customers a wide range of great quality fresh fruit and vegetables. We work with 100 indigenous growers and source most of our vegetables directly from farmers, fulfilling a strong promise around freshness, variety and price.”
