São Paulo – Promoting a new concept for orange juice, focussing on social networks and expanding the consumption of the product worldwide. This is the objective of the campaign started in May by the Brazilian Association of Citrus Exporters (CitrusBR), which includes a site in English and promotion of the drink in relationship networks like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
"The consumption of orange juice has been dropping 1.6% a year over the last decade. As Brazil exports 85% of the orange juice consumed globally, we must work to change this situation,” said Christian Lohbauer, the CitrusBR president.
Based on the English phrase "I feel blue", meaning sad, the campaign developed the concept I feel orange, and connecting the colour to joy and positivity. The phrase also grants the site its name. "We have associated the colour orange to what is pleasant and, within this concept, comes orange juice,” explained Lohbauer. "The portal has many posts, recipes for drinks, cartoons, etc… We are creating an orange universe and seeing what is most successful,” he explains. Site www.ifeelorange.com is entirely in English.
Apart from promotion on the virtual world, in November, the campaign should also enter the universe of the printed press. In a pilot project in England, the organisation is going to publish an insert in a British magazine, with European distribution, in which there is an orange work of art by a British artist. “The idea is to start with this insert. In 2012, we are going to try to work on public relations to expand the campaign to France, Germany, Spain and Italy,” he pointed out.
The funds for the campaign come from an agreement with the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex). By the agreement, the Apex covers half of the cost and sector companies cover the other half. The total value of the agreement for production of orange juice abroad is 2 million Brazilian reals (US$ 1.3 million).
Most orange juice exports – 70% – go to Europe. The United States should receive 15% of the total. Lohbauer says he does not expect expressive growth in exports of orange juice this year. Up to July, the country had exported 624,000 tonnes of juice, generating US$ 1.240 billion. In 2010, total exports of the product were 1.199 million tonnes (US$ 1.774 billion).
He stated that it is not possible to stipulate a sales target for the campaign, but said he hopes to win new consumers for the beverage. "We want to create a concept to become well known and influence future generations to consume the beverage,” he finished off.
*Translated by Mark Ament
