FDBusiness.com

South African growers are preparing to launch their sixth UK promotion with the objective of strengthening shoppers’ knowledge of their fruit’s country of origin.

The campaign – which starts in December with peaches, nectarines and plums, before moving on to apples and pears – aims to build on work to date to emphasise South Africa as a high quality, ethical and innovative source of fruit, with activities taking place across the UK’s main retailers and in the media.

This year, shoppers’ purchases of South African fruit will help support the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, specifically the building of a children’s hospital in Johannesburg. The ‘per pack’ donation will be highlighted on punnets and bags of fruit, and accompanied with a giveaway of DVDs of Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, the 2013 Nelson Mandela biopic.

The link with the South African charity will also be highlighted in booklets to be given away to customers sampling South African fruit in stores.

Meanwhile, Help a South African School and Cook South Africa! – competitions targeting, respectively, young chefs and schools – will run for another year.

The Help a South African School competition asks classes of schoolchildren around the UK to find out about South Africa and the impact farming makes on the lives of people living there, and to express their learnings in collages. This is coupled with a book donation drive, where schools (not just the schools which enter the competition) give unused English language text and reading books.

With the help this year of campaign partners, freight companies Maersk and Damco, delivery service and courier MyHERMES, and packaging suppliers Rajapack UK and Tindalls, these are collected and sent to schools in rural parts of South Africa.

The Cook South Africa! competition, which was launched this year, will once again offer students and other young chefs the opportunity to learn about South African cuisine and compete for a week’s training at one of South Africa’s leading restaurants.

Jacques du Preez, general manager, trade and markets, at HORTGRO, says: “South African producers’ campaign to promote their fruit has become an integral part of the seasons for stone fruit and top fruit in the UK market. At its launch, the initiative set out to highlight the USPs of South African fresh produce to the trade and to shoppers. As the campaign has progressed in stores, with the support of retailers and their suppliers, South Africa has become one of the most recognisable countries of origin at the point-of-sale.”

The campaign retains the Beautiful Country, Beautiful Fruit strapline that has been used since the first pilot promotion on plums, which took place in 2009.