Years ago, a now long retired senior executive rang me up to ask my advice. It concerned the arrival of a new chief executive fresh from outside the industry. Naturally eager to get his feet under the desk, he had organised a staff meeting and requested an in-house presentation concerning the company’s current marketing policy.

In today’s world, where mission statements hang on the wall, and there are numerous titles which often sound far more complex than the jobs they entail, such a request would hardly cause a ripple.

Then, after seeking my opinion, there was a silence at the end of the phone, and through came a response which I have never forgotten: “I thought our job was to sell fruit!”

It was not because the term was unknown, and indeed up until the 80s “marketing boards” controlled the destinies of growers as far afield as Israel, South Africa, New Zealand and Cyprus. Even earlier in post war Britain, tomato and cucumber production was organised under similar umbrellas, not forgetting our Potato Marketing Board, which while it did not sell, controlled acreage.

I never discovered the outcome of that meeting, but it illustrates just how far the produce industry has progressed and the additional skills that are taken for granted by management. Talking to my colleagues on the FPJ, which is reporting on these latest trends this week (see p18), I still have a feeling that the term is often misunderstood.

Marketing, whether statutory or voluntary, as I understand it covers a whole range of skills, of which selling is not even the end game. Assuming the product can become available in good condition, marketing starts from the very moment the crop is selected and not even in the ground.

To be profitable, which is surely what the definition is really all about, it has to be available at the best point of the seasonal calendar and be presented in the most effective packaging. Branding can also be a key aspect, although many of the once famous names known to independent retailers and wholesalers are alas less significant because of the multiples’ preference for their own identity on the shelf. Bananas and pineapples are probably the only exception.

There is also promotion of course, which in trade terms seemed to be the only element which was once identified.

Even after the product has been consumed, the scientology continues, to the point where no self-respecting organisation does not keep a close track of research available into purchasing patterns, including the impact of its competitors.

But above all, if I had to pick the one key element which must go a long way towards creating a success, it is good, never-ending communication. Produce is living, breathing and therefore perishable, so that the luxury of long-term planning is not always as effective as its protagonists might hope.

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