USApple Association's attention to promotional activities equaled by that on member issues
USApple Association's attention to promotional activities equaled by that on member issues
The U.S. Apple Association, headquartered in Vienna, VA, is compiled of 40 state and regional apple associations.
Its goal is to promote apples and apple products, and also to provide the means for all segments of the U.S. apple industry to join in appropriate collective efforts to profitably produce and market apples and apple products.
Those goals are accomplished through a number of promotion efforts on multiple fronts.
Wendy Davis, director of communication and consumer health, said that the organization has had great success reaching the print media with new USApple recipes targeted to local newspapers across the country.
"In addition, five of our new recipes were published via AP newswire in the U.S. from August through December -- the prime harvest months," said Ms. Davis. "These recipes were developed for our primary and secondary target audiences. Our primary target audience is young mothers, ages 25 to 38, who desire health, convenience and nutrition for both themselves and their family. Our secondary target audience is children up to age 14 who influence their parents decisions."
Ms. Davis said that the recipes easily fit the profile of busy families whose lifestyles leave them with limited time to prepare healthy and nutritional meals. Some of the recipes, such as the apple cheddar pizza, are a healthy and fun way to cook with the family on a Saturday afternoon. The association has also been focusing heavily on getting the "apple message" to major mainstream media. In April 2005, it engaged in a Fall Harvest campaign to reach long- lead magazines whose readership is the group's target audience.
"We visited several long-lead magazines in New York City, encouraging them to spread the great news about apples to consumers during the fall months," said Ms. Davis. "We included information on our latest consumer research study, which linked apples and apple products to the prevention of breast cancer in animals. Since breast cancer is a hot issue with today's young mothers, we had great success landing articles on this subject."
They also refreshed editors on the basic health and nutrition facts about apples, new recipes, ways to incorporate apples and apple products into diets and convenient ways for moms and kids to eat apples and apple products.
"We have seen placement in magazines including Self, Publix GreenWise magazine, Readers Digest, Woman's Day, Martha Stewart Living, Family Circle, Child, Quick & Simple, American Baby, Working Mother and Parenting," said Ms. Davis. "The articles resulted in millions of media impressions."
In other campaigns, USApple has teamed with Sodexho School Services to reach approximately 2.4 million students, parents and guardians across the United States with its marketing messages. Apples and apple products will be featured during the month of January through an interactive CD that includes helpful education information on apples and apple products for children and parents.
On Oct. 5, 2005, NBC's "Martha" show was devoted almost entirely to apples and apple products. USApple staff assisted with organization and content for the show and also attended the live broadcast. USApple President and Chief Executive Officer Nancy Foster was on camera to give a quick comment about the status of the coming harvest and urged consumers to eat more apples to benefit from the exceptional health attributes they offer.
The show's set was decorated with apples donated by several USApple members including Leidel's Apples, Columbia Fruit, Pepin Heights, Fowler Bros. and Poverty Lane Orchard. But the association engages in many other endeavors beside promotional and marketing campaigns. It also keeps a close eye on international movements and does whatever it can to help U.S. apple growers on issues that could potentially put them at unfair competitive risk. On Sept. 8, 2005, it reported that the U.S. Department of Commerce had announced that Chinese apple juice concentrate exporters were expected to sell product at unfair prices in the United States if the current apple juice concentrate antidumping order was revoked.
The decision to continue anti-dumping efforts was based in part on information submitted by USApple and is the first step in continuing import duties on non-frozen apple juice concentrate from China. The effort represents a victory for domestic concentrate producers and U.S. apple growers. The Commerce Department's final ruling follows a four-month review aimed at determining whether the current antidumping order, applied to certain imports of apple juice concentrate in June 2000, should be lifted.
"The government reviewed the data we presented and agreed with our conclusion that without the antidumping order in place, the previous unfair pricing practices would return," said Ms. Foster. "By continuing the order, U.S. apple juice concentrate producers are more likely to remain in business and U.S. apple growers will retain this important market for their fruit."
USApple's 40 state and regional apple association members represent 7,500 apple growers and more than 300 individual firms involved in the apple business across the United States.
(A full report on the national winter apple deal appears in the Jan. 16 issue of The Produce News.)
Its goal is to promote apples and apple products, and also to provide the means for all segments of the U.S. apple industry to join in appropriate collective efforts to profitably produce and market apples and apple products.
Those goals are accomplished through a number of promotion efforts on multiple fronts.
Wendy Davis, director of communication and consumer health, said that the organization has had great success reaching the print media with new USApple recipes targeted to local newspapers across the country.
"In addition, five of our new recipes were published via AP newswire in the U.S. from August through December -- the prime harvest months," said Ms. Davis. "These recipes were developed for our primary and secondary target audiences. Our primary target audience is young mothers, ages 25 to 38, who desire health, convenience and nutrition for both themselves and their family. Our secondary target audience is children up to age 14 who influence their parents decisions."
Ms. Davis said that the recipes easily fit the profile of busy families whose lifestyles leave them with limited time to prepare healthy and nutritional meals. Some of the recipes, such as the apple cheddar pizza, are a healthy and fun way to cook with the family on a Saturday afternoon. The association has also been focusing heavily on getting the "apple message" to major mainstream media. In April 2005, it engaged in a Fall Harvest campaign to reach long- lead magazines whose readership is the group's target audience.
"We visited several long-lead magazines in New York City, encouraging them to spread the great news about apples to consumers during the fall months," said Ms. Davis. "We included information on our latest consumer research study, which linked apples and apple products to the prevention of breast cancer in animals. Since breast cancer is a hot issue with today's young mothers, we had great success landing articles on this subject."
They also refreshed editors on the basic health and nutrition facts about apples, new recipes, ways to incorporate apples and apple products into diets and convenient ways for moms and kids to eat apples and apple products.
"We have seen placement in magazines including Self, Publix GreenWise magazine, Readers Digest, Woman's Day, Martha Stewart Living, Family Circle, Child, Quick & Simple, American Baby, Working Mother and Parenting," said Ms. Davis. "The articles resulted in millions of media impressions."
In other campaigns, USApple has teamed with Sodexho School Services to reach approximately 2.4 million students, parents and guardians across the United States with its marketing messages. Apples and apple products will be featured during the month of January through an interactive CD that includes helpful education information on apples and apple products for children and parents.
On Oct. 5, 2005, NBC's "Martha" show was devoted almost entirely to apples and apple products. USApple staff assisted with organization and content for the show and also attended the live broadcast. USApple President and Chief Executive Officer Nancy Foster was on camera to give a quick comment about the status of the coming harvest and urged consumers to eat more apples to benefit from the exceptional health attributes they offer.
The show's set was decorated with apples donated by several USApple members including Leidel's Apples, Columbia Fruit, Pepin Heights, Fowler Bros. and Poverty Lane Orchard. But the association engages in many other endeavors beside promotional and marketing campaigns. It also keeps a close eye on international movements and does whatever it can to help U.S. apple growers on issues that could potentially put them at unfair competitive risk. On Sept. 8, 2005, it reported that the U.S. Department of Commerce had announced that Chinese apple juice concentrate exporters were expected to sell product at unfair prices in the United States if the current apple juice concentrate antidumping order was revoked.
The decision to continue anti-dumping efforts was based in part on information submitted by USApple and is the first step in continuing import duties on non-frozen apple juice concentrate from China. The effort represents a victory for domestic concentrate producers and U.S. apple growers. The Commerce Department's final ruling follows a four-month review aimed at determining whether the current antidumping order, applied to certain imports of apple juice concentrate in June 2000, should be lifted.
"The government reviewed the data we presented and agreed with our conclusion that without the antidumping order in place, the previous unfair pricing practices would return," said Ms. Foster. "By continuing the order, U.S. apple juice concentrate producers are more likely to remain in business and U.S. apple growers will retain this important market for their fruit."
USApple's 40 state and regional apple association members represent 7,500 apple growers and more than 300 individual firms involved in the apple business across the United States.
(A full report on the national winter apple deal appears in the Jan. 16 issue of The Produce News.)
