CHICAGO — Halos, the popular easy-peel Mandarin variety marketed by Wonderful brands, has completed a successful first year in the marketplace, supported by an unprecedented marketing blitz, and is looking to increase its presence in the years to come.

“We just completed our first year with Halos and the response has been tremendous,” David Krause, president of Paramount Citrus, told The Produce News at the recent United Fresh 2014 convention, here. “We went from launch to now being the number one brand in market share, and we have achieved a 61 percent brand recall.”David Krause, president of Paramount Citrus, holds a bag of Sweet Scarletts Texas grapefruit, which was being promoted, along with the wildly popular Halos easy-peel Mandarins, at the United Fresh 2014 convention in Chicago. (Photo by John Groh)

That rapid growth was fueled by year one of a $100 million five-year marketing plan that includes television, print, online, trade and outdoor advertising, as well as free standing inserts, point-of-sale displays, retailer promotions, consumer events and public relations activities.

Krause said that in addition to the marketing plan, Paramount’s commitment to providing consistent quality is the key to attracting and retaining consumers.

“They know they can expect the same high-quality eating experience every time they buy Halos,” he said. “That, in turn, drives sales for the retailer, and that’s what the program is all about.”

In order to keep up with the rising demand for Halos, Paramount continues to plant aggressively, increasing acreage by 20 percent year over year, according to Krause.

Halos tend to have a stronger following in the West, said Krause, who explained that the East Coast is a bit more competitive for citrus due to the large volume of imports that arrives in that region.

“But we expect to eventually win over consumers in the East as well,” said Krause. “We’ve tailored our marketing spending to certain areas of the country and we’ll be ramping up our efforts in the East.”

Another citrus variety that is performing well for Paramount is its Sweet Scarletts grapefruit from Texas.

“We love the Sweet Scarletts and think it is a fantastic product,” said Krause. “We did a test market in the Midwest and the results were very encouraging.”

Krause said a key element of promoting Sweet Scarletts is that “we need to get people to try grapefruit again, and when they try this one they will realize it is a great piece of fruit.”

The campaign for Sweet Scarletts will be much smaller than that for Halos, according to Krause. “We will still promote aggressively, but there will be no TV — there is just not enough volume of fruit. But retailers will see programs that will drive consumers to the store and keep them coming back.”

Again, he said the East Coast will be a challenge because it is a more competitive market, but Krause is confident that Sweet Scarletts will rise to the top.

“And we’ll be reaching out to younger people, who are not traditionally grapefruit consumers,” he said. “We think that if we can get them to try Sweet Scarletts, we can capture them as consumers.”