Smitten apple logo PremA17

New Zealand-based pipfruit commercialisation company Prevar has announced the newly-selected trademark name for its PremA17 apple variety; Smitten.

The company plans to register the name and logo in major global apple markets, along with the strap line ‘Once bitten, forever Smitten’.

Smitten will be marketed by six New Zealand companies under the Seventeen Limited umbrella, a company formed specifically to commercialise the PremA17 variety comprising DM Palmer NZ, ENZA, the Heartland Group, Johnny Appleseed Holdings, Mr Apple New Zealand and PickMee Fruit Company.

“The Smitten name and logo device superbly capture the essence of the marketing strategy we have chosen for this apple cultivar,” said Seventeen Company chairman John McCliskie in a statement.

“We are excited by the opportunity to be promoting the apple and the new Smitten brand in 2011.”

PremA17 is an early-maturing red bicolour variety, and is under trial in North America and Europe.