New Zealand’s new Braeburn marketing programme has kicked off in the UK, marking a new stage in the Southern Hemisphere supplier’s approach to the market.
After launching a range of online content and public tastings over the past two weeks, the programme will continue with in-store promotions in UK supermarket chain Tesco, according to Ralph Walker, a spokesman for the Braeburn Growers Group, which is organising the programme with support from Pipfruit New Zealand.
The highlight of the programme is a chance for consumers to win a trip to New Zealand to see the origin of the country’s Braeburn apples, Mr Walker told Fruitnet.com.
The campaign will revolve around the ‘simple pleasures’ concept, he explained.
“In our view eating a great New Zealand apple is one of life’s simple pleasures,” he said. “We saw a real opportunity for us to start talking about that idea. The world’s getting way too complicated, and it’s time to slow down and engage in the simple things in life.”
That messaging is a departure from the early planning for the programme, which had previously looked to use the established ‘100% pure New Zealand apples’ tagline, tying in with the country’s tourism campaign and a new apple marketing programme in India this year.
“The ‘100% pure’ story is one aspect of the New Zealand brand, but we wanted to develop a more generic brand that allowed us to tell stories about things like our Apple Futures programme, as well as a whole lot of other stories about New Zealand apples,” Mr Walker explained. “The more generic branding allowed us to tell those as well.”
While the campaign will focus exclusively on the Braeburn variety in the UK this year, it has been structured so it can be expanded in future to cover other varieties of New Zealand apples, as well as extending to the continental European market next year.
In-store promotions will be supported with a range of social media and online content, such as a series of short films telling a story set in a New Zealand apple orchard, which are expected to hit 50,000 views by the end of next week, according to Mr Walker.
“It’s early days yet, but I think we have developed an idea that seems to resonate with the UK audience,” he said. “We’re excited about the possibility to progress the campaign in future.”
