A campaign to promote South African grapefruit during peak season in the UK this summer will focus on educating consumers, highlighting the eating quality of modern varieties of the fruit, according to the South African Citrus Growers Association (CGA).
The initiative will feature a combination of activities during May, June and July designed to educate shoppers about South African grapefruit, particularly sweet red varieties such as Star Ruby.
In supermarkets, tasting events are being organised and information and recipe leaflets distributed to customers with a competition to win a holiday to South Africa. Point-of-sale and online retailer advertising and further online consumer advertising will take place.
The campaign will have the backing of a major public relations programme, featuring a nationwide survey of British breakfasting habits presented on radio by television chef Sophie Michell, with tips on how to eat healthily first thing in the morning.
The CGA campaign forms part of the Beautiful Country, Beautiful Fruit project, a major cross-category promotional venture part-funded by the South African government which now involves South African trade bodies representing deciduous fruit, grapes and grapefruit.
The initiative aims to build on the success of a pilot campaign to promote South African plums during January to March last year, which saw the fruit become the fastest-growing fresh produce category and the only one to see value growth in the UK.
Grapefruit growers are hoping this summer's campaign will help turn around falling grapefruit sales in the UK.
Justin Chadwick, chief executive of the CGA said: “During the last two decades, the UK grapefruit category has declined in volume and value, we largely believe because many shoppers still consider grapefruit to be sharp tasting and inconvenient to eat.
“However, South African growers have worked hard to develop exciting varieties such as red Star Ruby, which is juicy and sweet. These, alongside pink grapefruit and more established white cultivars such as Marsh, mean we now have a much broader offer of fruit that appeals to more shoppers.”
He added: “The next step is to change outdated perceptions of the fruit through effective and targeted promotional activity. By doing so, we believe we can return this category to growth.”
