Blue Whale took advantage of the Fruit Attraction event in Madrid to showcase the different varieties of apples and pears that the cooperative produces. Among them was the Kissabel®, an apple resulting from a natural hybridisation between the Gala and original Georgian varieties. This amazing variety is aimed at consumers looking for an apple with a difference. Christelle Bertin, marketing and communications manager at Blue Whale, discusses the cooperative's plans for this unusual variety with a red-orange flesh, backed up by a well-established marketing strategy.
Kissabel: a product with "high value-added potential"
"Kissabel® is a real product innovation, unlike anything we have seen in the fruit sector. It has the advantage of not competing with other apples, and creating a real addition to the shelves. It is now the most popular variety in our range." In order to give it the place it deserves on the market, the cooperative, working closely with the Kissabel® club, has spared no expense in its marketing campaign. "With our partners, we first worked to define a target by continent. In Europe, the target is a consumer we have named Adrien, a young person under the age of 29, looking for snacks that are both fun and healthy. Adrien likes red fruit and other berries, and apples are not generally part of his eating habits. He consumes processed products that he identifies as healthy, but which have a much worse Nutri-score than a crunchy apple. A young adult who lives in the city tends to shop in local stores in the city center. Kissabel® ticks all the boxes to meet Adrien's needs. In order to attract the attention of this target group, we are going to highlight the unique feature of this variety with the slogan: 'Let's go red'. Kissabel® really is a unique apple, and we are going to embrace this difference."
A promising future on the Asian market?
Blue Whale wants to go beyond the borders of the European market. While the yellow variety with red flesh has already been part of the Blue Whale range for several seasons now, the red variety with red flesh has strong development potential in Asia. "There is a gift culture around the colour red which is very present in Asia. The Kissabel® red-fleshed variety has delicate red fruit flavours, is more aromatic and also appeals a lot to Asian consumers. Whether it is this variety or the more tangy yellow one, the targets identified reacted very well to consumer tests. We are offering it in trays of 4 fruits over a very short marketing period, in October and November."
The harvest for 2024 should reach 700 tons, potentially up to 1,000 tons when the trees reach maturity.
Christelle Bertin
For more information:
Christelle Bertin
Blue Whale
Phone: +33 (0)5 63 21 56 56