Spanish fresh produce association Hortyfruta, which promotes fruit and vegetables from the southern region of Andalusia, has launched its first promotional campaign following a legal ruling forcing the withdrawal of its Lola brand name.
The campaign, which is being launched to coincide with the region’s 2010-11 season, features a reworked logo that drops all mention of Lola, alongside the slogan ‘For a product with name and identity - Andalusian Fruits and Vegetables’.
The brand, whose full name was ‘Lola & Paco: Andalusian Fresh Produce’ was officially launched by Hortyfruta in November 2008, but only made its debut on cartons of Unica-branded products a year later at Fruit Attraction 2009.
However, the organisation has been forced to withdraw the Lola name after Europe’s brand registration office ruled that Italian fresh produce company Dal Bello had already registered the brand for its products, which are imported through its subsidiary SIFE.
Hortyfruta said it would focus on working with the principal retailers and wholesale markets in Germany, France, the UK and Spain, to show consumers the “differentiating qualities” of Andalusian fresh produce and its advantages over its competitors.
The organisation said that it was hoped the campaign would help both retailers and consumers associate the positive perception of Andalusia and Spain with the fruits and vegetables produced in the region.
During the season and as part of the campaign, Hortyfruta said it also planned to carry out research that would aim to identify commercial opportunities in the supply chain and means by which its member growers could improve their services in the three main export markets.
María José Pardo, md of Hortyfruta, told FPJ: “We continue to promote fruits and vegetables from Andalusia. Whether or not Lola appears as part of the logo is not so important. We continue to promote Andalusian fresh produce and eventually the plan is to use the image of the flamenco dancer alongside the Andalusian Fresh Produce wording.
“We are currently putting together a plan of how our members can best maximize use of the logo in their marketing and promotional materials.”
“Only Unica members were using the packaging featuring the Lola wording at the time of the ruling,” she added. “So losses will be minimal as changes were made to the packaging quickly once the ruling was made leaving only a small quantity that cannot be used.”
