Many produce growers all over the world are missing out on a great opportunity by not effectively utilizing their packaging to tell the most impactful story, according to a marketing expert. 

New Zealand-based Fresh Produce Marketing director Lisa Cork is due to speak at a session during next week's PMA Fruittrade Latin America, to be held in the Chilean capital Santiago on Nov 11-12.

The session entitled 'Fresh Produce Renaissance' will also involve panelists from the Netherlands, U.S. and Brazil who will each share their views on how producers and marketers can build their business with effective packaging.

"I'll be talking about the important role of packaging and utilizing it as a legitimate tool to help growers and markets increase sales, increase value, and I believe increase market share," Cork told www.freshfruitportal.com.

She emphasised the word 'packaging' was not being used to refer specifically to the types of materials used, but rather to companies' branding and packaging communications.

"This is my professional expertise, I work with growers and marketers around the world on their strategy and then on their packaging," Cork said.

"So we’ll bring a little bit of the philosophy to life with real-life case studies, where we’ve actually made an incredible different to a grower’s bottom line through the use of effective strategy, and then bringing that to life on their packaging.

"We can tell amazing stories on everything from the very small to the very large."

The representative said she believed many produce companies in the world today were very slow to change and did not place enough focus on their packaging communications.

"We are slow to see the opportunity that is available on our packaging, as an industry globally," she said.

"Often they’ll have quite effective point of sale (POS) material laden with great information, but then they don’t seem able to realize that they can and should then translate that to their packaging.

"A lot of people seem to have this void of knowledge or void of expectation that their packaging should work really hard for them. It's their most effective market tool."

Cork also highlighted that it's the cloest marketing tool to the consumer at the point of decision, conveying important information that can prompt someone to pick up and buy.

"It’s what we call the final 10%," she said.

"You could have 30,000 followers on your social media platform, but if shoppers get there and there is just a sticker, what is to differentiate that from any other piece of fruit?"

For more information on PMA Fruittrade Latin America, click here.

Photo: www.shutterstock.com

www.freshfruitportal.com