03/15/05 The Asian rounds for NW Cherries, Pt.1

03/15/05 The Asian rounds for NW Cherries, Pt.1

Representatives of Northwest Cherries are spending the next two weeks visiting several Asian nations. For Northwest Cherries, it is an annual visit & a time to renew acquaintances with Asian buyers and retailers and expand on previous marketing efforts. But Northwest Cherries President B.J. Thurlby says this year's trip starts with a four day visit to a new market & South Korea. And he adds the full blown marketing campaigns seen with other Asian nations won't happen right away in South Korea. THURLBY: When you go into a new market, you really need to focus on distribution first. And so we're going to be working directly with retailers and we're going to be working directly with some wholesalers and setting up programs. Hopefully here in June we will get a nice trip of a group of people from Korea, buyer types, that will come back and see our industry and see the commitment of excellence that we have and go back and buy a lot of cherries. But make no mistake, that there are some wonderful opportunities for retail promotion in South Korea, and some that can be implemented right away. One is connecting buyers and consumers with the health benefits of eating Northwest cherries. THURLBY: It will start with pushing the health message out to the retail sector there with Korea and hopefully get them to share that message right off the bat with the consumers. But there may be an even more unique way to get cherries into the conscious buying patterns of Koreans. A little high tech advertising comes your way in our next program.
Previous Report03/14/05 Ambrosia`s greater presence
Next Report03/16/05 The Asian rounds for NW Cherries, Pt.2