Food Freshness Technology (FFT), which develops a range of products designed to reduce wastage and increase quality in the fresh produce supply chain, has awarded a new marketing and communications contract to College Hill, a public relations agency based in London.
FFT has made significant progress in the UK market over the past year and has begun supplying ethylene removal technology called It's Fresh! to major retailers for use managing the ripeness of their fruit and vegetable supply.
So far, the technology is being used by Tesco and Marks & Spencer, but the company expects a number of other supermarket chains across Europe and the US to begin using the system soon.
With that expansion in mind, College Hill was invited along with three other consultancies to pitch for FFT's marketing and communications business worldwide.
As reported by PR Week, the agency will coordinate European and US programmes backed by a six-figure campaign budget during the first 12 months of the project.
Andrew Vincent, senior consultant at College Hill, said work needed to be done on identifying potential new customers.
'It's a question of determining who the audiences are,' he explained. 'On one hand we've got retailers looking for ways to ensure fruit and vegetables reach their customers in the best condition, but you've also got fruit growers who want to keep fruit fresh for longer.'
He added: 'Also, at a time when the ability to produce and grow food is under pressure you've got a technology which offers benefits when it comes to the bigger picture, so there's a bigger thought leadership position for us to take too.'
FFT marketing and strategic development director Simon Lee, who will lead the campaign, said the company was confident that it would be able to expand its business in the next year.
'We now have plenty of stakeholders to reach out to, and we felt that College Hill's food specialists were ideally experienced to do this job for us on an international scale.'
