A shake-up in fresh produce marketing is needed if the industry is going to be able to reassert fruit and vegetables as must-haves in the increasingly competitive food scene.
A question mark is hanging over how much investment is needed to promote fresh produce, which strategies get the best returns and whether the sector has the resources it takes to compete in a cut-throat PR and advertising environment.
A way to promote and boost sales, marketing encompasses everything from market research to building a strategy or creating a brand to achieve a clear aim. However, this is easier said than done with a tight budget, numerous stakeholders and aims that stretch vaguely from raising awareness to boosting consumption.
Think of fresh produce, and names like Del Monte, Pink Lady, Florette and Rooster are just some that spring to mind for consumers alongside categories supported by the more prominent generic campaigns, such as home-grown potatoes, strawberries and asparagus.
In fact, the man from Del Monte has become an iconic figure since his first appearance in the 1980s and is one of the strongest examples of the fresh produce industry speaking to the masses in a marketing campaign that is remembered to this day.
But now, marketing is a different game altogether. Food is sexier than it has ever been. The shift towards celebrity backing has seen everyone from household names Delia Smith and Heston Blumenthal fronting Waitrose right through to TV cook Gizzi Erskine as the face of just about anything (asparagus, herbs, berries and potatoes to name a few). Even government-led initiatives such as Change4Life have brought the importance of healthy eating into focus with a primetime TV campaign.
At the same time, the rise of social networking has opened up an unprecedented avenue to reach consumers.
However, fresh produce companies at every level are still grappling with how best to approach marketing and there is mounting pressure for those leading campaigns to prove to stakeholders that it is worth the spend.
Only last month, a generic campaign by the British Leafy Salads Association was shelved after it failed to get funding from growers and packers calling for just 0.1 per cent of the total turnover of the industry. The drive raised contributions of just £27,000, missing the £45,000 target and amounting to a tiny percentage of the £43 million annual turnover of the category.
“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, at the time.
A freshinfo.com poll that week showed that half of the industry believes that the produce sector’s investment in marketing is “sufficient, given margins”, just ahead of those who believe it is “falling short” (46 per cent). Only four per cent thought the spend was “plenty to create successful campaigns”.
John Giles, chair of the food, drink and agricultural group of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and divisional director of Promar International, insists that fresh produce firms should reconsider their approach to marketing in order to remain a step ahead. He estimates that companies should spend up to 10 per cent of their turnover on marketing and promotional activities, which might include the recruitment and training of staff with marketing experience. This is in line with the fast moving consumer goods companies that are operating in the same circles.
“The best branded food companies will be spending that kind of money and they are the ones we are competing against,” says Giles. “You might not be able to easily afford that kind of money, but that’s what you’re up against. If you’re aiming for a much lower figure, say one per cent of your total turnover, you’ll be doing it with one hand behind your back.
“Of course, it’s difficult to ask growers for funding in a tough economic environment, but you have to explain the mid- to long-term benefits very carefully. To make a campaign work, you need strong buy-in from the others involved - you need to get growers, suppliers, distributors and customers on board, as well as funding agencies. Everyone has to pull in the same direction and understand what you’re trying to achieve.
“The other thing is, you can’t expect too much. Quick gains are fantastic, but sometimes it takes longer to get there. You need a sense of realism.
“And you have to put the right resources into it. Budgets tend to be relatively small, but you need to invest over time if you want to change consumer behaviour.”
But fresh produce campaigns can work. For every £1m rung through supermarket tills for carrots, for example, the industry spends £160 on promotion. For mushrooms, that figure rises to £300 but still shows that a clear marketing plan can have an impact on sales.
However, it is surprising how many organisations undertake a wide range of promotional activity and then do not carry out a formal evaluation. In some cases, growers and exporters can fall into the trap of doing the same thing every year but not necessarily doing the right thing.
The raw sales data should provide an indication of how any initiative is working, alongside market share and penetration, as well as analytical data that can track online activity.
The challenges are many, but the most forward-thinking fresh produce companies have become pioneers in a sector that is not traditionally associated with branding and the big bucks spending enjoyed in other industries. A solid marketing plan, strong message and the right investment can boost both individual companies and entire categories.
It makes sense
One of the most recent examples is the Mushroom Bureau, which has secured £2.2m for a three-year campaign to promote fresh mushrooms in the UK. The Mushrooms Make Sense initiative, which is 50 per cent funded by the EU and kicked off in the autumn, aims to communicate the nutritional benefits and versatility of mushrooms to younger households, health professionals and caterers. The project is intended to address the decline in mushroom sales in the UK and increase consumption by 23,800 tonnes over three years.
And you can’t argue with the numbers. Kantar Worldpanel figures show that mushroom volume and value sales are up 2.5 per cent and 2.7 per cent respectively in the last 52 weeks, but they are up 5.5 per cent and four per cent respectively in the period since the campaign started, measured from January.
Stephen Allen, head of marketing at the Mushroom Bureau and group marketing director at Monaghan Mushrooms, maintains that a lot of lessons have been learnt since the start of the project. “You have to be very clear in what the business objectives are because it’s then more straightforward to explain to a huge number of stakeholders, as we have had to do in our campaign,” he says. “You have to make sure you know and understand your consumers, how they shop, where they shop and what kind of media they consume so that you can make your message relevant and make sure it cuts through against the background of a huge number of competitors.”
A name to remember
One of the most talked-about fresh produce marketing campaigns is that of potato heavyweight Albert Bartlett, which achieved something of a fresh produce first when it snapped up Hollywood A-lister Marcia Cross to front two £3 million campaigns for its Rooster brand and teamed up with Disney to market Toy Story 3-branded Rooster potatoes.
The first push in 2009 saw value and volume sales jump by more than 100 per cent and the second phase last year saw double digit growth in volumes and a 40-50 per cent uplift in value. More than four million meals a week feature Rooster potatoes and market penetration has exceeded 30 per cent, which shows there is still potential for expansion.
John Hicks, marketing manager at Albert Bartlett, maintains that the firm’s portfolio is going from strength to strength and that “value growth is ahead of volume growth”, which is crucial.
“Rooster is our flagship brand and we will continue to invest in it,” he says. “It has also provided a platform for other Albert Bartlett brands, such as Purple Majesty, which we launched last year. Consumers trust the Albert Bartlett brand, which is important because this is one of the main challenges alongside consistency.
“We have learnt that first, building a brand is bloody expensive. But second, it takes time and you have to grow your brand at the speed at which you can produce your crop - it’s something you have to do in tandem, increasing marketing spend in line with what you can offer.”
The move came ahead of a number of fresh produce companies reconsidering their proposition, researching their markets and looking at the possibility of launching brands of their own. In fact, the fresh produce aisles that were once almost exclusively own label are now dotted with more and more brands as growers and suppliers come to tell their story, find a point of difference and put their own stamp on their offer.
One firm to do this successfully has been G’s Marketing, which teamed up with Tesco to introduce its fresh & naked salads in May last year and has seen it grow to become a £6m brand. The unwashed salads range, which launched in distinctive brown boxes and then extended into bagged versions and a range of living leaves, replaced two existing Tesco own-label unwashed bag packs nationally and added two lines to the existing offer.
Anthony Gardiner, head of marketing at G’s Marketing, says a new approach was needed to get the brand off the ground and that the project was treated “quite differently” to the own label business. “There is more for us to think about in terms of the market and packaging design - we have a lot more control over it,” he says. “We have continued to attract new shoppers week on week and the brand has helped boost market share by 50-100 per cent depending on the week. Our repeat purchase rate is very good, though shoppers are initially drawn in by the colour and the fact that packs are a little bit different.”
It is clear that whether fresh produce players are coming up with a marketing strategy, the activities should be based on research, market data and a point of difference. There is potential for the industry to reach out to both clients and consumers in a way that suits them, but the plans must be well thought out and realistic if marketing is going to be worth it in the long run.
ARE YOU DOING IT RIGHT?
John Giles, chair of the food, drink and agricultural group of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and divisional director of Promar International, shares his top tips for a successful campaign
• Base your marketing plan on careful research, rather than a gut feel - or make sure your instincts are robust, valid and underpinned by facts.
• Make a five-year plan with a long-term view for what you want to achieve.
• Don’t be over-optimistic. Everyone thinks that what they have is the best in the business and that their rivals are disorganised, but this is not always the case.
• Remember that the UK is a mature market. There may be someone out already doing what you want to do. Find out how good they are and what their weaknesses might be, but be realistic.
• Build in an evaluation process. This can be done in house, but it also makes sense to get external eyes in every now and then.
• Be prepared to be flexible and change what you’re doing. How you start out in year one might not be how it’s going to work for years two, three, four and five.
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