Fruits from Chile - A brand new identity
The organisations that have led the project are the Chilean Fruit Exporters Association (ASOEX), ProChile and the many people and companies that make up its internal and external network, including various product specific committees.
Ronald Bown, chairman of ASOEX, said: “Prior to the launch of this new identity for all Chilean fruit, our sector had a fragmented branding strategy that lacked direction. We had, of course, been working under the overarching Chile Fresh Fruit logo, which has become well recognised around the world in the last decade. However, it was felt that the plethora of detached logos that have been introduced in that same period to represent a number of our key sectors have given Chilean fruit a range of identities that could understandably prove confusing for both our international customer network and perhaps more importantly, their customers, the global consumer base.”
“We decided the time had arrived to create a consistent and harmonised branding strategy for the Chilean fruit sector and its related subsectors, which would reflect the image and values which characterise our industry today,” added Bown. “By giving consumers and trade colleagues in all of our key destination markets a clear vision of what Chilean fruit stands for, we hope to achieve greater penetration and development of our export potential in the next few years.”
Felix de Vicente, Director of ProChile, said: “The Chilean fruit industry is well respected by the international fruit community, which is widely aware of the underpinning credentials that have made Chilean fruit so successful around the world in the last 25 years.”
“The fruit industry has been extremely successful in establishing its reputation and position around the world, with the support of ProChile, but after the initial branding process the agency with whom the industry worked with on this particular project identified characteristics that we feel could be enhanced and exploited further in order to achieve greater awareness of and affection for Chilean products in key markets,” said de Vicente.
“Having deciphered this, the next step was to evaluate the best ways to position these reference points against the benchmarks within the competitive spectrum in Chile’s main international markets,” Bown said. “Chile is basically competing against other fruit suppliers, each of which has its own set of brands with different underlying values and strategies.
“There is a clear, conventional way of communicating within the fruit industry, based on two ubiquitous pillars – quality and origin.
A platform of pillars
If Chile wants to create a new space for itself in the world of international fruit marketing, what should be the pillars on which it constructs its new branding proposition?
Taking the two key pillars of quality and origin, some of the responses in the trade study illustrated that Chile is already well positioned in this respect. Phrases such as “Chilean fruit is amongst the best in the world”, “reliable quality and food safety” and “very professional, serious exporters, committed and fulfill obligations” underline the country’s international reputation for quality.
Unified industry
The various logos that have previously represented sectors with their own committees and associations in the Chilean industry will now become obsolete, replaced by an industry brand or sub sectorial brand that is identifiably aligned with the new fruit industry logo.
ProChile’s de Vicente said: “The challenge and opportunity for the Chilean fruit industry is to integrate the identities of the fresh and dried fruit sectors, without losing the individual identities of any of its sub-sectors in the process. Maintaining the Chilean country image as a valuable support mechanism, the fruit industry has to chart its own course and redefine itself in a way that clearly differentiates it from the competition that exists in all marketplaces and reflects a desire to lead the industry in every way.
“The fresh and dried fruit sectors have worked separately in the past, but they share not just an origin and a privileged climate, but also a passion for the fruit industry that is reflected in consistent high quality and professionalism throughout the supply chain. The dried fruit sector is relatively new, but can benefit tremendously from the progress made by the fresh fruit sector and the reputation it has established for Chile worldwide.”
Marketing
Bown added: “With the limited funds we have available to support our customers in international markets and to promote Chilean fruit, the fact that we will now have one identity for our fresh and dried fruit sectors is going to prove a major plus point.
“The brands have been developed for use within the trade first and foremost, but also with the end consumer in mind. We have already had the preliminary results of a viability study across many of our key customers and trade contacts around the world and they have been very positive. The next part of our work is to establish the Fruits from Chile brands in the industry.
“We know that will take a little time and there is no intention to rush – this is a long-term commitment and we have made the initial investment aware that further investment will be required to take this new brand where we want it to go,” he said.
Chile’s food industry exported products with a value of US$10.8 billion in 2010. Fruit represented the largest food export sector, with 31% of the volume sent to international markets.
More than 2.4 million tonnes of fresh fruit was exported to over 100 countries by Chilean companies in the 2010-11 season. The principal destination markets were USA (38%), Europe (29%), Latin America (16%) and the Far East (11%).
Chile is the leading fresh fruit exporter in the southern hemisphere, representing 59.3% of all fresh fruit exports from the region – taking into account the major product lines of table grapes, apples, kiwifruit, avocados, plums, cherries, peaches, pears and blueberries. It is the number one exporter of table grapes, plums and blueberries and the number two exporter of avocados and cherries.
Contact: Christian Carvajal
Phone: + 56 2206 6604
Email: ccarvajal@asoex.cl