“Present fruit and vegetables as Coca-Cola”

On 21 July, BelOrta was on the news at Channel Z. It was stressed that the largest cooperative auction of Europe wants to present itself as a leading brand. A large marketing budget is reserved for that, and some groups of cultivators even put some of their own money aside to promote their products further. Filip Fontaine, CEO of BelOrta: “Using our own means, we have reserved roughly a million Euro per year.”

Paul van Hoof, cultivator of French beans: “I expect that we can achieve an additional cost, but that will take time and money.” Promotion is done by means of TV commercials, organising fun activities and a social media presence. About 1,300 joined cultivators hope to make their products less interchangeable this way.“Fruits and vegetables have truly become great products, they are no longer basic products. These great products deserve a leading brand,” according to Fontaine. Two years ago, BelOrta’s marketing budget amounted to a few hundred thousand Euro, now it amounts to seven times that number.

BelOrta does not present itself as ‘healthy’ or ‘of ours.’ “The time of being pedantic and saying: ‘eat fruit and vegetables seven times a week,’ is over. Current consumers should buy fruits and vegetables because they feel like it, and think it is pleasant. ‘Happiness in a bottle,’ Coca-Cola’s slogan, is also the message we want to convey,” says Fontaine.