New Zealand rebrands kiwifruit as rivals gnaw away at market share

New Zealand is renaming the kiwi-fruit Zespri, in a multimillion pound European relaunch to differentiate one of its primary exports from rivals.

Zespri International, part of the former New Zealand Kiwifruit Marketing Board is rebranding the fruit, which was originally known as the Chinese gooseberry.

The name was created by consultancy Interbrand, which entered into a computer a range of characteristics consumers associated with the fruit and asked it to produce a name.

Roger Growcott, Zespri International UK and Eire manager, says the decision to relaunch the kiwifruit is intended to give the New Zealand brand its own identity and promote it as a superior fruit.

New Zealand originally held the lion’s share of the world kiwifruit market. But this has now dwindled to 28 per cent with Italy, Spain and Asian countries eating into its share.

In the UK, Zespri is being launched in the first of a series of European-wide advertising campaigns. BDH Advertising, based in Manchester, picked up the business earlier this month, worth about 1.5m.

Zespri International is awarding several European ad accounts as part of the relaunch. Growcott says the original aim was to appoint one agency across Europe. But the budget has now been split and accounts are being awarded by market.

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