Sponsoring sporting events, teams and stars remains a rarity in the fresh produce business largely due to the level of costs involved, especially when it comes to high-profile competitions like the recent FIFA World Cup or the Olympics. But apple brand KIKU has managed to clear that particular hurdle by adopting a more subtle approach to sports endorsement – a strategy which chief executive Jürgen Braun refers to as 'a kind of guerilla marketing'.
This month, KIKU is set to reveal it has reached an agreement to become the official apple supplier to a leading Formula One racing team. According to Mr Braun, the apples will be used by the team’s catering and hospitality units, providing drivers, VIPs and journalists attending press conferences with refreshments and health snacks. More details are set to be released about the deal later this month.
KIKU’s global supply network has been expanding notably in recent years, with European suppliers now backed up by sources not only in other parts of the Northern Hemisphere but also in the Southern Hemisphere. As a result, promotions have been stepped up considerably, and sports sponsorship forms a major part of the group’s marketing strategy.
Among KIKU’s recent noteworthy sporting endorsements have been its support for South-Tyrolean extreme sportswoman Angelika Rainer and, just recently the International Mountain Summit, which involved famous mountaineers like Reinhold Messner.
Last month, Eurofruit Magazine caught up with Ghanaian skier Kwame Nkrumah Acheampong, nicknamed the Snow Leopard, who has enjoyed KIKU’s support over the past three years since meeting Mr Braun through a mutual acquaintance during a ski event in the Dolomites. 'Jürgen said he’d like to sponsor me for the Turin Olympics and although I didn’t make the qualification it showed him what the potential was,' reveals Mr Acheampong, who competed last year in the Men’s Downhill Slalom at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. 'I’m now going to carry on until the World Ski Championships in Garmisch, Germany.'
According to Mr Acheampong, the company’s backing has helped him enormously not only in terms of his own development but also in setting up a lasting legacy for Ghanaian skiers who are looking to meet their potential.
'They’ve enabled me to not only carry on skiing, but for example when I went to Greece for a competition Jürgen arranged with one of his subsidiaries there to actually help me and host me while I was there,' he reveals. 'It was a good place to stay and they looked after me.'
KIKU is in fact associated with the Ghana ski team as a whole, supporting its training and development. Mr Acheampong is now planning to build the first ever ski slope in Ghana, a project which will hopefully establish a better grounding for the African country’s aspiring skiers. 'It’s a little dream that I have and I think we will get there,' he says. The slope, which will be either dry or grass, is due to be built in a suitable resort in the Akwapim Mountains, about 45 minutes from the capital Akkra.
Mr Braun says the decision to sponsor Kwame was based on wanting to get the maximum impact from a limited advertising budget. 'We don’t have high budgets and therefore need to look around for unusual things to sponsor, as we did with the Brazilian bobsleigh team at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin,' he tells Eurofruit Magazine. 'Secondly, in sponsorships you get a lot back if the sportsman is good at marketing himself. Kwame is great at doing that and brought us what we wanted to achieve, namely notoriety and sympathy. We want to create positive and unusual associations with our brand.'
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