Liquid fruit is the message behind this year’s Sunshine Fruits from France campaign.
Now in its eighth year, the campaign will be focusing on the healthy benefits of eating fruit and how to make eating fruits more fun. It aims to communicate to consumers how easy it is to incorporate fruit into their diets with juices, according to Daniel Obadia, president of the French apricot committee.
A “mixologist”, or cocktail mixer, has been enlisted to dream up some spicier juice options suitable for summer barbecues and parties, he said and promotional activity, on behalf of French representatives bodies, Interfel, BRM and Oniflhor, will include a radio campaign throughout July and August.
A competition will also be launched, allowing consumers the chance to win high-powered juicers to create their own fruity concoctions.
As one of France’s premier products, apricots are also set to be the focus of in-store activity in the UK, with tastings in Waitrose and Tesco.
Obadia said: “Only France can produce varieties which allow production beyond July 14 which don’t lose their quality in the fridge.”
And to sustain this producers are looking to focus on specific regions in order to resurrect some older varieties, such as Rouge Roussillon, which had been left out owing to its small size.
However, being champions of a product is not the drive behind variety research he claimed. Instead, all European producers should be co-operating to determine an integrated calendar of supply.
Attention should also be directed towards the potential competition from Asia, which poses a greater threat than the newest EU member countries, he added.
