Peak industry body Apple and Pear Australia (APAL) has announced the departure of its market development manager Olivia Tait.
During her two-year appointment, Tait delivered a number of successful programmes, including the widely successful Hailstorm Heroes campaign, which helped promote and sell pears aesthetically damaged by storms in Victoria in 2015.
Tait also worked to promote Australian exports through the development of the Australian apple and pear exporter directory, and worked with the Australian Table Grape Association to develop an online registration system for mainland apple and pear growers to export to Thailand in 2017.
“During her time at APAL, Olivia has successfully helped to increase export opportunities for Australian apple and pear growers and provide support and services to exporting growers,” APAL said in a statement on its website. “Her creativity has seen the development of a range of export and locally focused campaigns including Picked for Perfection under the Australian sun, All Australian Apples and All Australian Pears; and participated in the successful Victorian government led Now in Season programme to promote ‘Brand Australia’ internationally.”
Meanwhile, APAL’s chief executive Phil Turnbull has spoken about the new direction the industry body will take in 2017.
“The board has tasked me with the responsibility of reviewing the APAL strategy. There’s two parts to that,” Turnbull told industry members via APAL’s Facebook page.
“The fundamental question is, how can we add genuine value back to our levy payers from an industry services point of view? The second part is how can we make our commercial business, which is fundamentally our Pink Lady business, thrive and survive, so we can again deliver genuine value back to our levy payers?”
