When Andy Macdonald started out at brand marketer Coregeo back in 2003, he never imagined that just a few years later he would have masterminded the rampant growth of Britain’s top two fresh produce brands. In the UK market, where supermarket own label dominates and brands scarcely get a look in, the runaway success of Pink Lady and Tenderstem – which now rack up double-digit growth year after year – is a big achievement, and something the 75-year-old from Kent is rightly proud of as he slips into retirement. “I’d have Pink Lady and Tenderstem on my tombstone,” he says with a smile.
Key to the success of the brands, according to Macdonald, is the consistently high level of investment in marketing and quality control – “no matter how good you are, you have to keep reminding people of it”, he says in mantra mode. And Coregeo’s focus on marketing is what sets it apart from other companies with a similar role.
“I’m pretty certain Coregeo is unique in that we’re the only company that actually looks after and manages fresh produce brands,” he says. “I don’t mean business brands like Del Monte or Fyffes, but fruit brands. Because we’re not involved with buying and selling, we’re totally independent.”
Coregeo’s remit is to select licensees for the two brands and manage the marketing for the brands. Every month growers return their sales in kilos and Coregeo charges a royalty, the majority of which is invested back in marketing. “If somebody asks us if we can use some of the marketing fund to reduce the price of the fruit, we say no, sorry, we don’t get involved in money. I think that keeps our nose clean because if we gave Tesco 10p off and Waitrose 10p off, the sales difference would be huge. The investment you make with one would be a bit wrong with the other.”
Retailing at around £3 per kg in the UK, Pink Lady has certainly managed to remain a premium brand and one that commands consistently higher prices than almost any other apple variety on offer. The fact that sales have continued to boom despite the high price tag comes down to clever marketing and a reputation for consistent quality, Macdonald believes, and it is no mean feat.
“I sold the first 500 boxes of Pink Lady [at Saphir Fruit] to M&S in 1992, coming from Australia,” he recalls. “Everybody said: ‘Give it a year and it’ll be a commodity; sell a million boxes, it’ll be a commodity’. Well we’re now talking 27 years later and it’s not a commodity – it really is the major premium brand in fresh produce.”
Throughout this period, the apple brand has had just one year when sales have shrunk, and that was due to a big freeze in Washington State in 2007-08, Macdonald recalls. “Every year we’ve performed,” he says, “and the strict specifications laid down by the brand’s owner Apple and Pear Australia (APAL) have helped forge the reputation that you never get a bad Pink Lady apple. It’s inspected more than any other apple.”
When it comes to Tenderstem, the product’s versatility and ease of use has been key to sales success. “In Tenderstem you have something unique,” says Macdonald. “It has a lovely floret, an edible stem, you can eat it raw, it’s truly versatile, it can be cooked in any format, it has a lovely peppery flavour and it’s a really beautiful product.”
Since launching in 2004, the premium brassica’s growth has amazed Macdonald, with the product now available at all major retailers, not to mention many restaurants, hotels and caterers, which account for 20-30 per cent of sales, and even more some months.
The brand’s current marketing campaign is Coregeo’s best yet, Macdonald believes, featuring eye-catching ‘foodscapes’ such as an anthropomorphised stalk of Tenderstem surfing lettuce waves, and a waterfall of gravy cascading over a rocky cliff of roast potatoes. “The pictures really get to you and people ask questions about them,” he says. “I like adverts that are a bit fun. I think people take more notice.”
Another thing that the fresh produce veteran thinks would get consumers to take more notice of the brands is if retailers were less sensitive about making independent brands visible in store. Co-branding – think ‘Sainsbury’s Pink Lady’, ‘Tesco Pink Lady’ etc – is still the norm at UK supermarkets, and one retailer even puts the Pink Lady heart logo on the back of the pack to make it less visible to consumers.
“For me, when you consider the success of Pink Lady and Tenderstem, I really have to question why the retailers won’t support the brands a bit more because when you go to a supermarket you know which shop you’re in. Since I’ve been involved in the business, British supermarkets have led the way – with hygiene, visiting growers, making sure farm workers in third world countries have education and clinics – I just wish they weren’t so fussy about branding, and I think they don’t gain as much in terms of sales as they could if the brand was able to shine.”
The retail sector has certainly changed a lot during Macdonald’s 59 years in the fresh produce trade, switching from store managers buying locally to centralised buying and from small high street stores to big hypermarkets on the edge of town where families would do a weekly shop. Now things have come full circle, of course, and the growing tendency is for time-poor consumers to favour top-up shopping at convenience stores. “It’s funny how these things come back around,” Macdonald says, “but it is a bit different now – everything’s been made so easy for the consumer.”
One thing that has remained unchanged is Macdonald’s love for the fruit and veg business. “The fresh produce industry is one of the best to be involved in,” he says. “The people involved are great, and not many of them leave the sector – it’s interesting, there are lots of opportunities to travel, it’s full of passionate people and nobody wants to sell a poor quality product.”
Asked if there have been any low points in his career, he says no, although he does later mention how ropey some of the B&Bs were that he stayed in while he was a management trainee at Fyffes – his first job in the industry. “I had to put my trousers under the mattress to press them because there wasn’t an iron,” he says. “And some of the places were just a bit grim.” Fast-forward 30 years and Macdonald found himself sipping champagne while flying to Australia in a private jet, following an invitation from one the country’s richest men, cardboard and waste management tycoon Richard Pratt. “Every flight I’ve taken since then has been a bit of a disappointment,” he laughs.
Within the fresh produce industry, Macdonald says Pink Lady Europe’s chairman Didier Crabos is one of the most charismatic men he knows, grinning broadly as he remembers an England-France rugby match they went to together a few years ago. “When I met Didier at Waterloo before the match, he presented me with a French beret, which he made me wear for the whole match at Twickenham. That’s the kind of joker he is.” In a similar vein, a giant cake was wheeled out at Pink Lady’s 25th anniversary in Berlin a few years ago, with everyone expecting a female ‘Pink Lady’ to leap out. It was Didier. “A bit disappointing!” Macdonald jokes.
The question is what’s next for Coregeo’s outgoing managing director as he begins to ease into retirement. Macdonald won’t stop working at Coregeo altogether, carrying on as the company’s main board director and gradually handing over the reins to his successor, Peter Durose, who was last week confirmed as the new MD. “I will mainly be working for APAL from now on, and I might become their man in the UK as it were. I don’t want to stick my oar in too much though. I’ll be careful not to step on Peter’s toes.”
In fact, Macdonald has known Durose for a long time, and he is confident the former Tesco man is the right person for the job. “I think he’s going to be very good for Coregeo, with his contacts, his knowledge and his ideas,” he says. “You have to be honest with yourself. When you’ve spent a fair time doing the job, there comes a time when you need new blood, new ideas, somebody who’s going to think outside the box and take the business to the next level. I don’t want to put any pressure on him, but I think he can do that for Coregeo.”
If Durose can come anywhere close to replicating the success that Macdonald has achieved in his 16 years at the company, he will have done a fine job indeed.
