Perfection Fresh Australia has recently rebranded to create a stronger identity and a unified shelf presence for its rapidly expanding produce range.
In the fresh produce aisle, establishing product provenance is increasingly important to consumers, so making it easier for shoppers to identify the local source and traditional origin of their favourite fresh fruit and vegetables is key to driving sales.
And it’s this notion that’s behind the extensive rebranding strategy recently unveiled by fast-growing fresh produce company Perfection Fresh Australia.
The family-owned Australian business is known for leading innovation in agriculture and has introduced to market some of the country’s popular produce brands such as Broccolini, Qukes baby snacking cucumbers, Vine Sweet Minicaps baby capsicums, Kumato tomatoes and Berry Perfection raspberries and blueberries.
In July this year it acquired the sales and marketing and rights for the Calypso Mango from OneHarvest, establishing Perfection Fresh Australia as one of the country’s leading mango marketers, responsible for more than a third of Australian domestic mango industry sales. Its portfolio also includes Kensington Pride, Pearl, Keitt and R2E2 mango varieties.
Perfection Fresh's pursuit of new products for its expanding portfolio is relentless, but one of the consequences has been an eclectic assortment of brands, resulting in cluttered and confusing packaging and labelling.
“We needed to harmonise our presentation and bring all the products into alignment with a unified branding strategy,” CEO of Perfection Fresh Australia, Michael Simonetta, says.
“We wanted to make it easier for retailers and consumers to recognise our products and identify with the Perfection Fresh brand and the quality its stands for,” he adds.
The new design, executed by Interbrand, has a “vintage postcard look” with graphic elements including a bold Australian Grown stamp and illustrations to identify the fruit or vegetable’s original source. It also carries tasting notes and the Perfection Fresh Australia story.
The tagline ‘explore the world of taste’ reflects Perfection Fresh Australia’s commitment to finding the tastiest produce both from Australia and around the world, bringing it home to grow, share and enjoy here.
“The new branding will link our fresh produce together, helping to create confidence and loyalty among customers,” Simonetta says.
He believes the Australian grown stamp will make it easy for people to choose to support local growers.
The rebrand rollout, started in December with the new website and signage across all sites. The new packaging will be introduced in stages as old supplies run out, and Simonetta says he expects the rebranding exercise to be fully completed in three months.
Following global trends
The new branding and packaging will play an important role in expanding the company's footprint in export markets.
Simonetta says that at the recent Produce Marketing Association’s Fresh Summit Convention, it was highlighted that branded produce sales in the United States have experienced 12 per cent compounded annual growth over the last five years.
“Our new look and feel is taking advantage of this global trend towards branded fresh produce and ongoing interest from consumers to know more about the source and origin of their fruit and vegetables. We see that this trend will resonate here in Australia, and in our export markets.”
While Simonetta did not put a number on the amount spent on the rebranding, he said it is “significant” and he believes it will deliver “an extraordinary ROI” and lay the foundations for the next 10+ years of growth.
“We already have big plans for 2017, including new product launches and further investment in production across all categories,” he says.
The company has purchased a new property on the Sunshine Coast for raspberry production and has replaced the cooling systems in one part of its Sydney facility.
Simonetta concludes: “In fresh produce processing, if you’re not investing every day, you’re going out of business.”
