A few thousand pounds a year out of those hard-earned profits might seem like a step too far just to get the public to take more interest in what you grow. But ask those in the industry involved in promotion and marketing and they will tell you it works and it is value for money - if you get it right.
Poupart’s Laurence Olins chairs one of the most successful produce promotions of the last few years. British Summer Fruits’ campaign, devised by the London-based agency Sputnik, set out to change people’s perceptions of berries, which had hitherto been looked upon by the vast majority of the consuming public as a luxurious ‘occasional’ treat. It was good to have the image of something desirable and tasty - in contrast to some of the more humdrum but nonetheless nutritious offerings from the grower industry - but the ‘exclusive’ and ‘expensive’ aura that surrounded fruits like strawberries and raspberries not so long ago naturally put a crimp in sales.
That perception, according to Olins, has evolved. Now, with the help of the campaign, berries are seen as a food which can be consumed on a daily basis, particularly as a healthy option, while maintaining the delicious and desirable factor.
He says: “Berries are constantly being quoted as a ‘superfood’ in the media.”
And the campaign has proved effective with 20 times the value in editorial space being gained against the money spent. “These are excellent results and we’re very happy with them. It has undoubtedly been good value for the growers,” explains Olins.
Sales have carried on growing. Annual sales growth is around the 16 percent mark for the full mix of fruit. Strawberries grew around six percent and blackberries and raspberries up 30-40 percent from a much lower market penetration.
For the generic campaign to be successful the choice of a good PR company was vital. The growers behind BSF, which represent about 90 percent of the summer fruit produced in the UK, deliberately chose a PR company that had not been involved directly in the sector before. They wanted a fresh approach, original thinking and good press relationships. Funding to back the campaign comes from the growers.
The promotional effort received a boost from a ‘very positive’ attitude from the retailers who have been kept in the picture with regular weekly emails detailing sales, supply and activities. Sputnik keeps in contact with the retailers’ marketing departments telling them what is happening in advance.
Olins adds: “On the basis of the campaign we’ve been awarded more shelf space and as we’ve got more shelf space we’ve sold more fruit and so on.
“In BSF, a promotional body that also acts as a spokesman for the industry, I believe we’ve found the right formula and the right partners to conduct the campaign.
“As for the marketing companies, I believe the British soft fruit industry has some of the best and most sophisticated marketing companies I’ve come across in my experience and I’m not surprised soft fruit is doing so well.”
To add to the general effectiveness the generic campaign has incorporated into its strategy a sister promotion for winter berries.
The team at PVGA, Lough, in Lincolnshire, is involved in many promotional strategies for the various crop associations it represents.
Involvement in the campaigns and marketing varies from association to association. For instance it took a leading role in the award-winning ‘Yes Peas!’ campaign which has picked up momentum since its launch in 2001.
PVGA’s Tim Mudge said all the grower associations represented by the body have some sort of marketing effort going on. The associations range from asparagus to brassicas, from leafy salads to leeks.
“The most important thing you need for any campaign is a willing group of growers who are convinced this sort of campaign is going to be successful. If they are not it’s an uphill task. The group must be co-operative,” he says.
He also recognised the importance of a leader or figurehead for a campaign.
The process begins by recognising the need for a campaign in the first place. Once agreement is reached on that the groups must approach PR agencies with a clear idea of what it needs to achieve, for example, a two percent increase in sales over the year or simply to raise public awareness of a product’s season or even existence. Once the PR agency, which Mudge believes should ideally have been involved in the food industry in some way, has been primed it is up to them to come up with ideas on how to achieve it and which route to take to reach the consumer.
Funds, of course, will usually come from the growers themselves. Mudge gives the example of £5,000/year for a three year campaign from a group consisting of ten businesses providing a £50,000/year war chest. In the world of PR this sort of money will not pay for ‘big’ campaigns. But it might go some way to building an identity on the web, through a logo or cartoon character or paying for an independent ‘ambassador’ to represent the crop. The hope is to pick up lots of unpaid publicity which multiplies the effect.
He explains: “The summer fruits campaign has been a huge success, especially when it latched on to the sex appeal angle. That was when it was taken up by the newspapers and magazines and it took off.”
However, he acknowledges there are no guarantees with PR. The pea campaign kicked off in late summer 2001 and was understandably lost in the terror of the attack on the Twin Towers. “But you just have to think you’ll carry on with it. The only guarantee is that someone, somewhere will see it,” says Mudge.
He also says that on occasion growers have doubted a campaign would work. However they have reversed their opinions later. “Every one of the campaigns has shown results,” he says.
One fear in the industry about promotions is that consumers buying more of one product stop buying another. More apples, less pears, more carrots, less potatoes. In Tim Mudge’s view he believes promotions will increase the spend overall but that there will be victims.
Campaigns can also have a knock-on benefit of impressing the retailers with the enthusiasm of their suppliers. After all, the shops will also benefit from the publicity. “I don’t think it hurts the retailers to see the growers putting in a concerted effort to increase sales,” says Tim Mudge.
“But there has also been co-operation between retailers and growers at pressure point in the past. For example, when the World Cup was on last year there was a worry that it would result in fewer soft fruits being eaten. Retailers and growers co-operated on a promotion then which paid off.”
On the ornamentals side the HTA has long been an advocate of marketing and promotion to boost the sector. Tim Briercliffe who heads up the marketing department at HTA, says the three year project Plant for Life, which ended in February, majored on the health aspects of flowers and plants along with social wellbeing. The campaign was funded with money from Brussels.
With that funding now at an end the organisation has made another application for funds which it hopes will be agreed by summer. Meanwhile, during the funding interregnum, this spring HTA is behind a move to get garden centres to identify plants for ‘marginal gardeners’ - the group seen as having the most potential for growth in terms of sales.
Identification of this social group is just one of the ideas which has arisen from the extensive market research HTA conducts each year. Plants for Life emerged from research into how plants impact our modern lives, how they improve health in the home, workplace and social environment
Briercliffe says: “I think, typically, many trade associations don’t do much marketing in trying to reach the consumer. We have been different in this way. We base out approach on sound market research.”
For the most part HTA leaves it up to its members to capitalise on any PR work it undertakes for generic promotions. Members can obtain point of sale material, for instance, and run their own individual promotions.
“It works if people get involved. Everyone must pull together,” stresses Briercliffe. “These campaigns are out there and should drive people’s interest in plants.”
There are other more specific campaigns with which the HTA has involved itself, such as the National Conifer Week, run in association with the HDC. It also puts financial support into rose promotion.
The biggest promotion is the National Garden Gift Voucher scheme, aimed at driving people into garden centres.
“The success of promotions depend on how people take them up and use them,” says Briercliffe. “We always get some that say this or that doesn’t work. But you get out of them what you put into them. We can only do so much. It has to be a joined up process.”
And anticipating a successful application for funds, this year’s Plant for Life campaign has an environmental theme. “Plants are core to the environment with their role in biodiversity, climate change and carbon offset. This, of course, links in with social themes. This can be run in the summer if we are successful with our application for European funding.”
One of the longest running campaigns impacting the horticulture industry has been Chip Week from the British Potato Council.
Catherine Lange, marketing manager at BPC, says the promotion, run annually in February for the last 18 years, has shown a dependable increase in sales every time.
The levy-funded organisation is also involved heavily in health campaigns taking place in the summer and autumn, June through to November, attempting to introduce health messages about potatoes and change consumers’ perceptions about the crop, particularly in relation to comparison between potatoes, rice and pasta. It also participates in health education work in conjunction with the British Nutrition Foundation. The aim of all the research is to enable BPC’s levy payers to use it in their businesses, for instance in messages on packaging.
Although Lange admits that it is hard to measure the effect on consumers of the work being done, she said that in the last 12 months BPC had achieved £4.5 million in consumer media PR value while spending only £500,000.
Across the industry and in almost every sector some sort of marketing and/or promotion is taking place. Of course, some efforts are much larger than others depending on the sort of finance available. But there seems no doubt that a good campaign, conducted shrewdly with the right amount of enthusiasm, will produce the goods in terms of returns for the growers concerned.
As the results from work by such bodies as the BSF, HTA, BPC and PVGA become more widespread we may see a rash of campaigns implemented nationally and regionally.
And with the sort of healthy message horticulture has to offer that can surely be no bad thing.
Along with the summer fruits campaign, a winter berries promotion has also been in train. Objectives for summer fruits were to increase consumer demand for British soft and stone fruits and raise awareness of the availability and health benefits of UK strawberries and raspberries.
For winter berries it was to increase demand for imported berries and raise awareness of the availability and health benefits of imported strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackcurrants.
Across both campaigns the targets were to maximise marketing opportunities with supermarket retailers and focus on younger consumers, families and children while reflecting the importance of the traditional audience.
The strategy - both campaigns
Remove the barriers to purchase to enable a higher rate of sale
Shift emphasis from a luxury non-essential special occasion high summer dessert, to an everyday all-day modern superfood
Capture the attention of the media and consumers by making the fruits more manly and more sexy
Communicate the messages single-mindedly and dramatise them in a compelling way
Work closely with retailers to maximise shelf space and ensure consistent messaging
Develop the sector’s first entirely consumer-facing website, www.superberries.co.uk (launched June 2006)
All communications (website, press releases, media mailings) consistent with modern, healthy and appealing values
British Summer Fruits campaign
Information on specific campaign activity for the 2007 season will be available in early May
The results
2004-05: press coverage values generated exceeded £6m (advertising value equivalent) in the first two years
2006: press coverage values generated exceeded £4.5m
Sales of British berries in UK supermarkets rose in 2006 to over £204 million - an overall increase of 6.8 percent to 53,000 tonnes of fruit - despite 2006 being an extremely challenging year for the industry.
Sales of British-grown raspberries in 2005 rose to over £28 million, representing an increase of 36 percent from 2004 to 4,600 tonnes.
500,000 new berry buying households in 2005 (TNS)
Winter Berries campaign
The Results
2005-2006:
Press coverage generated achieved a value in excess of £2.5m (advertising value equivalent)
Sales of strawberries and raspberries rose by 26 percent, and blueberries and blackberries by 54 percent over the winter season
2006-2007:
Sales increases and press coverage value results will be available in early May
Source: BSF
No comments yet