Autumn: season of Zespri and $2m media blitz

By GLENN SMITH in Taiwan

Autumn brings brisk winds to Taiwan, sweeping its capital Taipei free of smog and unveiling postcard blue skies. The change of season is especially pleasant for Zespri, but for purely commercial reasons - the gusts blow its competition off the island.

"Right now we are the only kiwifruit in the Taiwan market," said Kelvin Bezuidenhout, assistant market manager of the Taiwan office of Zespri International.

"This month there's the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is a huge gift-giving occasion. That kicks off our peak season, and next comes October - a perfect month for us. It's like Christmas."

This six-week autumn blitz moves more than a quarter of Zespri's annual export to Taiwan.

Taiwan is big business for Zespri, and it enjoys a strong lead here over its competitors - Chile and Australia from the southern hemisphere and northerners France and Italy.

Last year Zespri exported 9.6 million kilograms of kiwifruit to the island, claiming a 63 per cent share of the market's total of 15 million kg. This year, Zespri's target is slightly higher - 10.8 million kg, due to its launch of Zespri Gold, the sales of which are expected to reach 2.7 million kg. Zespri Gold will boost New Zealand's market share and revenues. In Taiwan, the gold retail at NT$15 (91c) each, versus the NT$10 (61c) price for the green.

There is nothing accidental about New Zealand's lead in Taiwan - Zespri advertises and does it well while its competitors ride its coat-tails. New Zealand's kiwifruit is being promoted this year with a NT$35 million ($2.1 million) media campaign, and another generous sum is allocated for special events and public relations.

The campaign has two goals. The first is to impress upon consumers that Zespri Gold is "the best-tasting kiwifruit in the world", and second is to position Zespri Green as a "fun and interesting" way to stay healthy. Consistent with promotions of previous years, the country of origin, New Zealand, is stressed rather than the new Zespri brand.

Kiwifruit arrive in Taiwan in May and Zespri's advertising kicked off then and will run through the end of the sales season in late December.

Leading the campaign is a 30-second TV commercial, created by J. Walter Thompson Taiwan, and aptly titled "The Proposal". Featured are a green "boy" kiwifruit and a gold "girl" counterpart, who, in coy but perfect Mandarin, asks: "Why do you like me so much?" Dutifully, her suitor praises her uniquely delicious taste. "Is that all?" the gold "girl" counters, eliciting a recitation of her many virtues, gustatory, nutritional and otherwise. Repeated throughout the spot is the slogan - pronounced she-jean-a! in Taiwanese - which means "It's gold!"

Echoing the TV commercial, which was broadcast to the island's 22 million consumers daily through the end of August, were print ads in news weeklies, women's magazines, health and fitness titles, and even Chinese-language editions of Vogue, Bazaar and Playboy. Then there is radio and outdoor advertising - even Taipei's new subway is being used to showcase Zespri's message.

NT$35 million buys a marketer a lot of eyeballs in Taiwan, and only someone sequestered in a Taoist cave could have missed it. Needless to say, the TV slogan and its cut of a kiwifruit exclaiming "It's gold!" is readily recognised by Taiwanese consumers young and old.

The campaign has strong cut-through - a marketing term for being heard above the din - so well, in fact, that this image is used as a stand-alone icon on magazine covers to remind consumers of New Zealand kiwifruit.

"We're here to create consumer pull," said Bezuidenhout. "Some people [back home] think we spend too much money on promotion, but it's necessary to get the return."

Taiwan is a high-yield market for Zespri and it enjoys its second-highest earnings-per-tray here, a feat surpassed only in Japan, and the big bang comes in autumn when Zespri has the whole market to itself.

To explain how that is possible, Bezuidenhout sketched a chart of the global kiwifruit trade, with the timing of each country's harvest and the lengths of their Taiwan sales seasons.

Northern hemisphere growers - Italy, France and others - ship in November and after their fruit arrives in Taiwan it is warehoused and sold through June. Next comes New Zealand's crop, along with those of Australia and Chile. But the latter drop out of the market by late summer, because, unlike Zespri, which manages the New Zealand harvest so it lasts eight months, the Australian and Chilean growers are independents competing against each other for early arrival in the market.

The result is that Zespri has a lock on Taiwan's market from mid-September until late December, when the cycle repeats itself.

Zespri's exclusive window couldn't be better timed, as it coincides with the approach of the Mid-Autumn Festival [August 15 on the lunar calendar; September 21 this year on the solar], a Chinese holiday with a millennium-old tradition of eating fruit - the moon-shaped pomelo - and exchanging gifts of mooncakes.

Earth's nearest celestial neighbour is the star of the festival. Legends explaining its origin are involved, even by Chinese standards, and defy brief summary. Top billing goes to Ha Yi, an archer, and Cain O, a fair maiden, but there's a Jade Rabbit thrown in for good measure.

By analogy, the holiday is the Chinese equivalent of Halloween - a harvest celebration minus the goblins - and it is a time for families to get together. Weather permitting, they sit outdoors in the moonlight, search for Cain O's likeness among the moon's craters, light fireworks, sip tea, eat mooncakes and share pomeloes.

Kiwifruit has become a popular upmarket alternative. Traditionally, tray-shaped boxes of mooncakes were presented as gifts. Businesses exchanged them as expressions of sincerity, as did guests calling on relatives on the big day. Kiwifruit have nice a fit - they're roundish and come in trays, plus for added cachet, they're imported.

The Chinese, contrary to outdated perceptions held by some Westerners, are not burdened by custom and tradition. Current politics may be a touchy exception, but when it comes to consumer behaviour the marketing hot buttons are new, modern and imported.

This neo-filch attitude toward things foreign paved the way for the acceptance of kiwifruit in Taiwan, and it was supported by an underlying belief that food is medicine. Fruit is highly esteemed and widely consumed by young and old as the last course of the evening meal, and throughout the day as snacks.

Said Bezuidenhout: "Taiwan probably has the highest per capita fruit consumption in the world, not just in quantity but also in variety."

The variety of fruits sold at an outdoor produce market can bewilder an unsuspecting foreign visitor.

Depending on the season, the fruit stands are stacked high with wax apples, passionfruit, melons, loquats, bananas, paintings, citrus, and pineapple from local farms. There are coconuts from southeast Asia, and apples, peaches, plums, and cherries from distant Western shores.

All are sold freshly sliced, on shaved ice, in drinks to be enjoyed on the spot, as well as by weight for home consumption.

The curious kiwifruit would be lost in the crowd if it wasn't for Zespri's aggressive advertising and public relations campaigns.

To keep the kiwifruit in the Taiwan consumer's mind, Zespri organises numerous publicity events throughout the year. Typically, this means recruiting a few celebrities to perform a skit.

"That brings all of the TV crews," said Bezuidenhout. "The local reporters love to mingle with celebrities." Following are banquets of gourmet dishes with kiwifruit, and often a noted chef is on hand for live demonstrations.

Later that day, New Zealand's kiwifruit stars in a short, human-interest clip on the evening TV news, followed the next day by stories in the lifestyle sections of the leading dailies, followed again by features in the island's monthly magazines.

"Sometimes we get up to 70 reporters at an event," said Bezuidenhout. "Our public relations company claims we achieve press exposure worth 23 times the fee we pay them."

But that's all in a day's work for Zespri in Taiwan.

"What we're selling is New Zealand, and the quality of its kiwifruit," said Bezuidenhout.

"Kiwifruit has been in Taiwan for a long time, and we want to keep it top of mind."