British Apples & Pears Limited (BAPL) unveiled its planned campaign activities for the 2021 season at its annual trade event on Friday 14th May, which was held virtually and hosted by BBC presenter Charlotte Smith.
The 2021 season will officially begin on 4th October and will include continued collaboration with Raymond Blanc, as well as a new initiative with JLS member, and now farmer, JB Gill. Following the publication of BAPL’s new report on the sustainability of the apple and pear industry by Professor Louise Manning from the Royal Agricultural University (RAU), sustainability will be a cornerstone of this year’s marketing activities.
Ali Capper, Executive Chair, British Apples & Pears commented: “This year’s virtual trade webinar was extremely popular, with all major supermarkets attending. The news of our upcoming sustainability report and our major investment in 2021 season launch promotion were very well received. We are confident that retailers will really get behind our efforts to highlight the environmental, quality, taste and health benefits of British apple and pears. This year really is going to be bigger than ever.
“We are also thrilled to announce our continued partnership with Raymond Blanc. As a keen sustainability and food ethics advocate, he is the ideal voice to help us encourage consumers to buy delicious, British produce.”
BAPL Operations Director Sarah Calcutt added, “JB [Gill] is very social media savvy. We’re going to let him take over our Instagram account for a bit, and he will be reporting from orchards, talking about the crop and to growers. BAPL ambassadors are carefully chosen to reach as broad demographic as possible, and they are picked for their credentials around British food and farming. Having names like Raymond and JB on the case will reach as many people as possible which of course is going to drive sales.”
Picture caption: Ali Capper and Sarah Calcutt