PACIFIC ROSE RIDES SWEET APPLE WAVE
16 December 2005

The Pacific Rose™ apple is carving out a name for itself.

Produced in prime apple-growing regions located oceans apart - New Zealand and Washington state - this sweet, juicy apple is riding a sweet wave of popular demand, according to David Nelley, pipfruit category director for The Oppenheimer Group.

Oppenheimer, based in Vancouver, BC, is the exclusive marketer of Pacific Rose. The company has watched consumer demand for this apple increase dramatically since selected growers in Washington began growing the fruit.

"Pacific Rose fits well into our strategy of bringing richly flavorful produce items into the marketplace," said John Anderson, Oppenheimer's chairman, president and CEO. "We want to help our customers offer fruit of excellent quality and appearance - and especially taste - to their shoppers, building the overall apple category."

The popularity of the sweet, rosy fruit, combined with the idea of a premium apple grown in distant locations near the Pacific Ocean, inspired this year's Washington Pacific Rose season's promotional theme.

"We're inviting retailers and consumers to ride the 'Sweet Apple Wave' with Pacific Rose," Nelley said. "Our promotional material features a whimsical image of a woman surfer - she represents a healthy, adventurous spirit, reflecting the personality of the Pacific Rose apple."

Nelley anticipates that Oppenheimer will sell about 140,000 cartons of Washington-grown Pacific Rose apples between now and the end of March. This is Oppenheimer's third season commercially marketing the Washington apples, while the company has sold New Zealand-grown Pacific Rose since the mid-1990s. Fruit from both origins are sold under the ENZA brand.

"We've found that our customers are engaged by the Pacific Rose and enjoy promoting it creatively," Nelley said. "Last year, we saw some fantastic displays over the Christmas holidays, and also for Valentine's Day."

Notably, retailers in Hawaii enjoyed great success with a "Roses for Your Sweetheart" Valentine promotion that involved four major retailers and about five dozen stores.

"Retailers in Hawaii respond well to the Pacific Rose apple variety," said Chris Swoish, of James D. Swoish, Inc., Oppenheimer's partner in Honolulu. "The market follows the Asian preference for a sweet apple and therefore the Fuji, Gala, and Pacific Rose varieties gain most of the shelf space."

Swoish looks forward to bringing the 'Sweet Apple Wave' theme to shoppers in Hawaii, where he said the surf theme certainly resounds.

"We're going to have a lot of fun with it," he said. "We plan to have a custom surfboard made and used in a store display then given out as a prize to a lucky shopper."

The 'Sweet Apple Wave' positioning for Pacific Rose is designed to complement the 'Pure Apple Groove' campaign Oppenheimer created to promote the Jazz™ apple variety earlier this year. Like Pacific Rose, Jazz™ apples are also grown in both Washington and New Zealand under license to ENZA.

Click here to download the Sweet Apple Wave marketing graphics in high resolution.

Photos are available upon request.
Related Web sites: www.oppyproduce.com | www.enzafruit.com

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