The European apple brand’s two-decade journey is set to be marked by a continent-wide marketing strategy and the release of a special gift box
Apple brand Kanzi’s European marketing campaign kicks off on 23 September, as the brand marks its 20th anniversary season.
“Since its first commercial harvest in 2004,” said Jan Willem Verloop, head of marketing at variety management company EFC, “Kanzi has developed into a synonym for quality and great taste, loved by millions of consumers worldwide thanks to the unique, refreshing sweet and sour taste.”
EFC attributed the success of the apple brand to the commitment and collaboration of all the chain partners in the “Kanzi club”, which it said had become a “textbook example of organised cooperation within the agri-food sector”.
The brand’s popularity among consumers, it said, was down to its consistently high quality, the result of controlled production, with licenses granted only to leading grower organisations in the main apple growing regions, and with customised cultivation support.
The estimated harvest for the upcoming European season is in line with expectations, EFC revealed.
“The challenging growing conditions don’t seem to have significantly affected the quality of the harvested fruit,” it stated. “The quality of the apples, both in terms of taste and appearance, is described as particularly good. The member grower organisations are therefore very positive about the upcoming anniversary year.”
Verloop said that after 20 years the concept had lost none of its momentum, as evidenced by the ongoing expansion of the Kanzi club with new partnerships.
“This international expansion ensures that the unique apple variety, with its refreshing sweet-sour taste and firm, juicy bite, is grown in more and more countries,” he said.
A pan-European marketing strategy is set to look back at the highlights of the Kanzi brand over the past two decades, while visitors to the Kanziapple.com website will be able to order a special Kanzi 20 Years gift box.
“This fun gift contains not only a delicious Kanzi apple for some positive energy, but also a personalised voice message from the sender,” EFC said. “The gift box and accompanying Kanzi 20 Years messages are at the heart of the anniversary plan. A wide range of European influencers will activate consumers, while targeted online advertising will further increase the brand’s visibility.”
Finally, country-specific marketing campaigns are set to further bolster the pan-European campaign, with a mix of radio, TV, event sponsorship, PR, online communication, sampling and retail actions planned for “a true 360-degree campaign with local relevance in each market”.
