Berry Interesting

Feb. 28, 2007

Cherries are the Rodney Dangerfield of the fruit industry.
“They get no respect.” It seems every agricultural commodity has had a major marketing campaign. Remember the dancing raisins? The cranberry farmers? Even Florida oranges get more respect. Most recently, it was the dairy industry that got a boost from the “Got Milk?” campaign. Heck, cherries didn’t event make the cut at Fruit of the Loom, one of the five most recognizable trademarks in the world; apples, grapes and currants made it and cherries were left on the tree.
So what gives?
That’s what cherry farmers have been asking for years. So tired of not being “picked,” cherry farmers decided to launch their own national campaign. After all, cherries are not only tasty, but there are loads of medical and scientific evidence that they are good for you and help to alleviate gout and arthritis.
So who better to lead the way than Jeff Manning, the mastermind behind the “Got Milk?” campaign.  Manning was contracted by
the Cherry Marketing Institute (CMI) to become their chief marketing officer.

IT’S CHERRY TIME
While Manning remains as an independent contractor free to work on other projects, he says a vast majority of his time will be spent on cherries. In mid-January he came to Traverse City to introduce the campaign to the local cherry industry (Northern Michigan is the Cherry Capital of the world, and then he and his team launched the campaign nationally in New York in February.
“Cherries, Not Just Another Berry” is the mantra. It may not be flashy like the “Got Milk?” slogan, but Manning explains the objectives are totally different.
“First, the National Dairy Association had millions of dollars to create a campaign; the cherry industry doesn’t,” said Manning. “In our consumer research on cherries we found that a vast majority of consumers, retailers, writers and editors just think of cherries as fresh cherries. This may be hard for Northern Michigan to comprehend because you ‘live’ cherries, but the rest of the world doesn’t. For the country as a whole, virtually everyone would say they are ‘aware of cherries and they are delicious and I eat them in July,’ and that would be the end of the conversation.”

CHANGING PERCEPTIONS
So, like the tourism industry, where many travelers see Northern Michigan as essentially a one-month destination, are cherries perceived the same way? In reality, Northern Michigan may be enjoyed year round -- it’s just a matter of educating the public.
“Exactly. Cherries are not being seen as a juice concentrate, frozen, dried and as a product that is accessible year round,” said Manning. “Pretty much, cherries until this point, have not been thought of the same way as other commodities like raisins or oranges. This campaign is about changing that.”
While Manning had a budget that exceeded $10 million for the milk industry, his budget for marketing cherries will be less than $2 million. He said he would simply take a different approach.
“We will be using a public relations approach; there won’t be glitzy display ads, television commercials,” said Manning. “We are creating a PR campaign to educate the media, who in return will educate their readers, viewers around the country. We just don’t have the funds to create a display or television
ad campaign.”

EDUCATION FOCUS
The media kick-off took place February 6 in New York where Manning and his team introduced the idea, “Cherries are the new super fruit.”
“Education is the key and it is our focus,” said Manning. “Cherries have as many or more anti-oxidants than blueberries and cranberries. At this event we had two large tables with mounds of processed cherry products for the media to sample and read the labels. The event was well attended and the initial response from the media has been positive.”
Part of the campaign will include emphasizing the latest research that shows cherries reduce inflammation and some affects on heart disease and arthritis.
Manning and his team have also created a new industry and consumer website. ChooseCherries.com replaces the old
CMI website.
“We are asking the media, consumers and the industry to go to the site. I like the site a lot. There is not a lot of fluff – it is very science based. It is interesting, easy to navigate and gives people tons of information.”
Other agricultural commodity campaigns have been less scientific and more light-hearted, so why take a different approach with cherries?
“I worked on the Got Milk campaign for 13 years and that was much more about entertainment. We used humorous, intelligent television commercials,” said Manning. “The reason was we didn’t have a lot of scientific information on milk
like we have with cherries. We knew it
was good for you and it has calcium, but that was about it. So in many ways, with all of the scientific and nutritional studies on cherries, we are in a better position to bring this fruit forward to a very health conscious society.”
 
GLAMOR GOODS
So why does Manning think other commodities have been able to glamorize themselves better than cherries?
“I believe there are a couple of factors,” said Manning. “As I reflect on 30 years of commodity marketing in the beef, egg, potatoes, raisins, milk and prunes industries I have noticed that the industry doesn’t come together until the pain sets in. It is hard for the industry to pull together because it is so diverse, from producers to processors to brands, and the view that they are competitors. So the pain level in the cherry industry has reached the level where they knew something had to be done.
“Secondly, the cherry industry is a relatively small industry when say you compare it to the beef industry that has billions of dollars. So the cherry industry has not had a lot of money to spend and what dollars they had were fractured in that there were several groups promoting. Now there is a unified effort.”
With limited funds and the industry counting on him, Manning says they have to work quickly.
“We will be assessing the campaign again before the year ends to see if we are headed in the right direction,” said Manning. “We will be seeing if the consumer has a change in attitude about how they view cherries. It takes time though, and it will probably be a few years before any real significant change is noticed.”

For additional information visit
www.choosecherries.com.