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 One of the real pleasures of branding is to see products get the price points they deserve. On this basis, the pleasure possibilities for BRR would appear to be numerous, since a high proportion of what New Zealand exports, including meat, wool, wood, dairy, and fruit have developed a habit of falling well short of their price potential.
Dealt a raw deal for over a decade, the noble apple is at last showing signs of realising its true brand value. Not all apples, its true. Mostly the newer breeds on the block, cleverly bred and carefully wrapped in IP protection.
New Zealand has certainly taken its time to learn the hard lessons of brand stewardship. In a decade, two thirds of New Zealand’s apple orchardists, struggling like all orchardists to achieve any sort of viable return for their effort, have tossed in the towel. Braeburn and Royal Gala, two of New Zealand’s most successful varieties, have now been replicated in South Africa and South American countries where they directly compete with New Zealand in supplying key northern hemisphere markets in their off-season. Little wonder the returns have been consistently disappointing.
 But for those willing and able to embrace some of the newer varieties, a shaft of sunlight is gradually creeping into the orchard. By carefully breeding and planting impressive new varieties and managing the intellectual property around them, New Zealand growers can now see real prospects of price premiums. This will come though having apples with a strong consumer point-of-difference, IP controlled international growing locations and volumes, and an appealing brand story and presentation.
The Jazz™ apple is one key variety leading the charge. Developed by Plant and Food Research, Jazz is a cross between Royal Gala and Braeburn. As opposed to some of the ‘simply sweet’ good lookers, Jazz™ apples have a complexity and lingering taste that Europeans really enjoy. This year volumes of Jazz™ apples being grown in New Zealand will be up 70%.
Another apple with a pedigree and a promising future is Envy. BRR has been developing the new Envy brand with Turners & Growers, who own the ENZA brands. Known up until recently as simply T22, Envy apples not only shine externally, they have a very appealing taste profile, a unique capability to retain their fresh appearance in the fruitbowl a lot longer than other varieties and to not discolour for a considerable time after they are cut.  These distinctive attributes constitute a real breakthrough in evolving apple technology and a very strong point of difference in the marketplace. As with Jazz, the IP around Envy apples will be tightly controlled in terms of where it’s grown and how many are produced at any given time of the year. Turners and Growers have been particularly picky about the grower partners they have selected to produce Envy apples, to ensure they meet very exacting standards.
BRR’s role has been to design an engaging brand in the international marketplace to complement Envy’s special product qualities. BRR has created a persona for the Envy brand in the form of ‘the Envy woman’. An aspirational personality was developed and then articulated visually through the Envy design system and marketing and communication collateral.
While Envy has some way to go before its widely available on international markets, initial response from international distributors and from promotional events has been outstanding. So Envy looks set to follow in the footsteps of Jazz. Another milestone on New Zealand’s added-value journey.
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