Promotions for co-branded Belgian Conference pear to include in-store tastings across cities nationwide
Dole China and Truval are again teaming up with popular television characters the Smurfs to promote Belgian Conference pears in China this season, with plans to extend the campaign to Tier 3-5 cities across the country.
Dole and Truval launched a co-branded Smurfs-Truval Conference pear at the CIIE Exhibition in Shanghai last November, marking a new collaboration between two famous Belgian exports.
Created by in 1958 by Belgian cartoonist Peyo, the Smurfs remain popular around the world, and China is no exception. First broadcast in China in 1985, Smurfs has become integral to the childhood memories of those growing up in the 1980s and 1990s.
Dole introduced the Truval Conference pear to the China market in January 2011, and it has become the largest importer and distributor of Belgian Conference pears, accounting for around 90 per cent of the total import volume.
Dole and Truval are expanding the Smurfs campaign this season to help boost the profile of Belgian pears, and the promotions will gain impetus from the recent launch of the new Smurfs movie in China in July.
Laurent De Smedt, manager of the pomefruit division for leading cooperative BelOrta, said in-store tastings will form the backbone of the campaign.
“Tastings are the most effective way of reaching more consumers,” De Smedt told Fruitnet. “Last year, we ran tastings in Tier 1 and 2 cities and this year, we’ll expand it to Tier 3 and 5 cities, which are very important for us.”
A delegation from Dole China visited Belgium at the end of September to tour BelOrta’s research centre, packing facilities and orchards, and that followed meetings between the partners at Asia Fruit Logistica to plan out the campaign.
Dole and Truval are conducting a nationwide tasting campaign for the current season at different retail outlets across China, which kicks off this month (October). The Smurf promotion launches first in Sam’s Club and Hema stores, before expanding to include other retailers. Social media posts in the run-up to the campaign alerted consumers to the upcoming launch of the co-branded range at Sam’s Club and Hema stores.
The familiar ‘blue friends’ – Papa Smurf, Smurfette and Brainy – are displayed on the packaging of the fruit.
Marc Evrard, commercial director of BFV, said this year’s campaign will also be boosted by strong production volumes and quality.
“We have the advantage this year of exceptional quality fruit with great skin finish, high Brix levels and good fruit pressures,” said Evrard. “And since we have a larger crop the price level will be more acceptable to importers and consumers.”
“So these three things together: a more acceptable price level, excellent fruit quality and the doubling of the promotional campaign with tastings should give an enormous boost to sales.”
Truval has set a target to increase exports to China to around 10,000 tonnes over the next four to five seasons, up from recent levels of 3,000-4,000 tonnes. “We hope to ship around 5,000 tonnes this year,” said Evrard.
Nevertheless, he pointed out that reaching these goals depends on factors beyond the grower-exporter’s control, notably logistics. Shipping lines are under “constant reorganisation” and face “vessel shortages”, he said, which can easily disrupt programmes.
“In the past, we had three or four options on a weekly basis to sail from Antwerp to Shanghai,” said Evrard. “Now, we’re lucky to have one shipping line that should be going every week, but it’s sometimes every seven days, sometimes ten days, and then there’s a void sailing and you have two weeks of nothing. So it’s a constant puzzle in order to get everything done.”
Meanwhile, BFV-BelOrta is planning to make its first shipments of apples and pears to Vietnam this season. “We got access to Vietnam in 2019 prior to the pandemic, and we did our first promotion there. Now we’re going to relaunch in that market,” said Evrard.
Thailand is another new market on the radar for BFV-BelOrta, having opened its doors to Belgian Conference pears last year, and the partners plan to ship their first containers this season.
