Almaverde Bio bananas

A major new marketing campaign for Italian organic fresh produce label Almverde Bio is set to begin in Greece from mid-March.

Almaverde Bio Italia, which is responsible for promoting the brand on behalf of nine Italian suppliers, revealed plans to place billboard advertisements close to sales outlets belonging to Greece's major retailers in the capital city Athens and also in Thessaloniki.

In collaboration with the Athens branch of global PR agency McCann Erickson, the billboards will form the first phase of an ongoing project designed to position the Almaverde Bio brand in Greece via a range of media.

Almaverde Bio's latest poster in Greece'This represents an important step forward in realising our plan to globalise the brand,' explained Paolo Pari, director of Almaverde Bio Italia.

'The consumption of organic products nowadays has a number of common features in all European countries, both in terms of the target consumer and the reasons for buying,' he continued.

'The results achieved in Greece, despite the difficult economic situation which has affected the country, tell us that the prerequisites for a organic produce branding campaign are also there in this market.'

Almaverde Bio Italia supplies a broad range of products under the Almaverde Brand, which is a well-known trademark on the Italian market.

The group's range includes not only fresh and fresh-cut fruit and vegetables but also meat, eggs, pasta, frozen and tinned vegetables, fruit juices and tomato-based products.

The company achieved total turnover of €26.2m in 2009, an increase of 7 per cent year-on-year.