Sputnik on board for British onions

The British Onion Producers’ Association (Bopa) has appointed award-winning Sputnik Communications as its retained PR agency.

Sputnik’s brief is to grow the market for UK onions by rejuvenating their image and repositioning them as a modern health essential.

Sputnik has been highly successful in the fresh produce category, and last year won the Pr2 Re:fresh Marketing Campaign of the Year award for its British Summer Fruits PR drive.

The new British onions campaign, which will launch in September 2007, will feature a brand re-design including an updated website and logo. It will predominantly be editorial-led, using persuasive health messages to target consumer health, beauty and lifestyle pages of national print and broadcast media.

“This is a great opportunity to raise the profile of British onions and inform the public of their health benefits,” said Tim Wigram, chairman of Bopa. “We have chosen Sputnik because of its proven success in rejuvenating brands and thorough understanding of the challenges faced in our sector.”

Now in its 21st year, Bopa’s primary aims include promotion of the benefit of UK-grown onions and encouraging the development of better varieties and improved growing techniques, with the help of the Horticultural Development Council. l