Touted as New Zealand’s “new national treasure”, Zespri’s yellow-flesh kiwi SunGold is on the brink of its largest-ever UK campaign.
With a new PR drive aiming to build recognition of the fruit, along with retailer support through on-pack competitions and trials of mixed packs, the company has an ambitious marketing plan to revitalise the kiwi category and increase visibility of its newest product.
“We’d like to double our position in the UK by next year, and then do that again over the following two years, and three years,” says Zespri’s UK market manager, Lorraine Kirby. “We’re really very ambitious for SunGold in the UK. We’ve got a lot of production and we’re ready to step up
marketing.”
With its distinctive yellow flesh and sweet flavour, Zespri says its market research has shown that SunGold is a “perfect fit” for the European consumer, while good growing performance and high yields have meant growers have “huge confidence” in the product.
Although the UK market is quite steady in terms of kiwi volumes, explains Kirby, the category has felt the increasing pressure from the supermarket price wars. “The retail picture is very significant. There is huge competition, and the kiwi market has actually been in decline in recent years,” she says. “Because of the pressure on price, quite a lot of product on offer hasn’t delivered on quality so shoppers have walked away from the category. We’ve been working very hard to bring people back, and to create excitement about kiwis.
“The UK market is very keen on smaller-sized fruit, on everything, not just kiwis,” she adds. “There is also increasing demand for medium to large fruit in the ripe-and-ready-to-eat sector.”
The SunGold campaign will kick off with an extensive programme of in-store sampling at multiple retailers, followed by billboard advertising and a PR campaign targeting influential people in the food sector, such as bloggers and journalists. The key message is building recognition of the fruit, while subsequent messages will focus on SunGold’s high levels of antioxidants – around twice that of a green kiwi.
“For now, the key message is recognition that it exists and it tastes great. It’s sweet and delicious and it’s yellow. The first message is getting to know the fruit, and then it will be about its superfruit qualities.”
Retail support has been promising, according to Kirby, with one chain running an on-pack competition and other promotions helping to build visibility. “We’ve had quite a lot of support from retailers on promotions – we are working a lot on online, as we see this as a very interesting way of encouraging consumers to try something new.
“One retailer is also placing one free SunGold in a pack of green kiwis, so consumers have the chance to try them. And Asda has recently redesigned its packaging so it’s Zespri branded, which is selling fantastically well, and shows consumers are starting to recognise the brand.”
Currently running from the beginning of May until mid-September, Kirby is confident that the SunGold season will soon match the traditional green kiwi season – extending until mid-November. “At the moment, SunGold represents around a third of the volume of green kiwis, but in around three years time we expect this to be equal,” she says. “Growers have huge confidence in this product – it’s performing well and it’s unique to the kiwi industry. It ships and stores well, and it took a long time to develop. We now have a good production level and enough yield for it to be profitable.”
With the global might of the Zespri brand behind it, the company’s SunGold campaign is certainly gathering momentum and is sure to be a force to be reckoned with in the wider UK fruit category.
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