Plans for a generic campaign by the British Leafy Salads Association (BLSA) have had to be shelved after an appeal for funding from growers and packers - calling for just 0.1 per cent of the total turnover of the industry - fell flat.
“It just shows the situation is pretty dire when as an industry we can’t afford to fund a PR campaign,” said Tom Amery, managing director of The Watercress Company (TWC), a member of the association.
The body sent letters out to its membership at the end of last year asking for financial backing for the promotional push to be run by Mustard Communications. Of the £45,000 sought, contributions of just £27,000 were pledged. This represents a tiny percentage of the £43 million annual turnover of the industry.
Amery highlighted campaigns that the watercress sector has funded generically where £80,000-£100,000 was invested by Bakkavör, Vitacress and TWC. “It is very disappointing that as a leafy salad sector with more than 30 members, we can’t raise £45,000 between us,” he said. “It is pathetic that people have not got the foresight.”
Amery also pointed to work done by the carrot, potato, mushroom and onion sectors on generic promotion as good examples for them to follow.
For each £1m rung through supermarket tills for carrots, the industry spends £160 on promotion and that figure rises to £300 in the mushroom industry.
Representatives from both Bakkavör and G’s Marketing said at last year’s BLSA conference that the industry could not maintain its high level of market penetration without instigating a PR initiative.
The BLSA has not given up its hopes for a campaign yet though and will be going out to its membership again later this year to try to relaunch the drive for funds and secure a future campaign.
The BLSA is made up of salad growers and packers and has the primary aim of increasing UK consumption of leafy salads. Formerly the British Iceberg Growers Association, the group changed its name and focus incorporating a number of other groups together as the industry matured.
