‘Banana badasses’ take on the world

When a company speaks of wanting to dominate global banana supply, it conjures up images of a soulless dollar-chasing corporation that will do anything to boost the bottom line. 

However, when it comes to innovative Canadian disrupter Equifruit, nothing could be further from the truth. Using humour and absurdist marketing, the Montreal-based, all-women-owned B Corp is starting to gain significant traction in its drive to open the world’s eyes to a fairer system of banana supply.

Led by charismatic president Jennie Coleman – who was recently named one of Canada’s Most Admired CEOs by Waterstone Human Capital – the business has been supplying 100 per cent Fairtrade bananas to the North American market since its founding in 2006.

Sourcing from growers in Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, Nicaragua and Mexico, it has already achieved a market leadership position in the North American Fairtrade segment. But it feels like a drop in the ocean given Fairtrade bananas have only a paltry two per cent share – a far cry from the inroads that have been achieved by the Fairtrade and fairer pricing movements in both the UK and EU.

Speaking to Fruitnet at the Global Produce & Floral Show in Atlanta in October, Coleman said the company’s goal is simple, if highly ambitious: “Our vision is global Fairtrade banana domination,” she said. “Only four per cent of the global market is bought and sold on Fairtrade terms and we just can’t accept that. There has been a hundred-year business model [in banana sourcing] which we think belongs to the last century, and ours is one that prioritises a fairer distribution of value along that supply chain.

“It starts with small growers and plantation workers back in producing countries, and our role really is to be the representatives of those growers, to find them export markets on Fairtrade terms.”

It’s not easy to stand out and convince retailers, and ultimately consumers, to pay more for a product as homogenised as bananas – but that’s where Equifruit really shines, through innovative communication and telling a story that resonates. In Atlanta, the company set up a photography booth in the style of a Vanity Fair (or ‘Bananity Fair’ as it was cutely labelled) magazine cover, where visitors could get snapped in fun poses to share on social media. 

At a previous show in Nashville, Equifruit printed fake $5 bills and left them around a hotel complex, put them in a Crystal Maze-style dome to be caught, and fired them out of a gold money gun. The message? That the average American eats 27lbs of bananas per year, and with a Fairtrade banana programme estimated to raise prices by about 20c per lb, that adds up to a total of only about five bucks a year. 

The Equifruit team are masters of marketing and their zany humour and unbridled enthusiasm under the hashtag #BananaBadass is already turning heads across social media. Doubling down on their core message from the Nashville campaign, the team used an email signoff that highlighted frivolous things that they’ve spent more on in the past year than the $5 Fairtrade premium – such as a single fancy coffee, hot sauce, glitter slime or sunglasses for their dog. 

“There’s all this emotion and stress built into raising the price of bananas when the end effect is so negligible for the vast majority of the market,” Coleman points out. “If we spent just $5 more per year, then banana farmers would have working toilets in their children’s school washrooms.”

Equifruit’s approach is to use the silly to highlight the serious. “We are doing all sorts of crazy things,” Coleman says. “We really lean heavily on humour and the absurd to grab people’s attention, but we always bring the message back to getting farmers paid fairly. 

“Our aim at a trade show is brand awareness. We know bananas are a very weighty decision for a retailer. It takes them a while to think differently about their banana supply chains, pricing and merchandising strategies. If we can bring them here and make them laugh, it’s a way for them to find the confidence that if they do a programme with Equifruit we’ll also find a way to communicate to their consumers to tell the story.”

Coleman admits that getting retailers on board – particularly in the US market where relationships with the big multinational suppliers go back decades – is no easy feat. Buyers are concerned that if consumers notice a price increase on bananas, then that will set their price perception for the entire store, and it takes shock tactics such as Equifruit’s marketing approach to get them to consider a new path. 

“We want retailers to have the courage to try something different, something that has tangible impact,” Coleman adds. “We really have to work at winding back the model, and changing the mindset of the buyer is critical for the impact we can have.”

Building consumer brand awareness is still in the early stages, and remains part of a longer-term strategy. While Equifruit is active on Instagram and TikTok, it is still predominantly a trade-facing brand. And Coleman is philosophical enough to realise that only by winning contracts can the company make a difference. She readily admits it’s not easy to be the people dropping truth bombs and also the ones that want to sell you bananas. 

“You don’t want to put people on the defensive, so we use humour to bring tension down and get people a little bit more comfortable with the idea that we are doing something different,” she explains. “And then we always come back with this message about the importance of Fairtrade and paying farmers fairly.”

The focus right now is firmly on the vast North American market, where low Fairtrade uptake and higher acceptance of brands by retailers gives plenty to aim at. But ultimately, Coleman is not putting limits on where the company can go. 

For the immediate future there’s a plan to invest more in telling the story, expanding with new hires, and continuing to exhibit at trade shows. Equifruit has already defied almost every convention by being a female-owned B Corp with the credibility of Fairtrade behind it. And one suspects it is only just getting started.