2004 was "a year of revolution, not evolution"?, according to Laurence Olins, chairman of British Summer Fruits, who addressed the ADAS/East Malling Research Soft Fruit Conference in Ashford at the end of November. In an upbeat presentation, he said the organisation is beginning 2005 with a financial surplus as well as an enhanced, stronger role in the industry thanks to the hard work of the new PR company, Sputnik.

When the organisation was still known as National Summer Fruits, budgets were tighter and volumes were smaller. It has now become a well-respected industry body and represents 98% of all fresh, homegrown soft fruit in the UK's leading supermarkets. All the major industry players are involved, now including Well-Pict European Ltd and AMS Ltd, which both joined at the beginning of 2004.

In transforming itself, British Summer Fruits has matched the growth and increasing sophistication of the industry - highlighted by its contemporary new logo and website, designed and maintained by London-based Sputnik. www.britishsummerfruits.co.uk now delivers facts and news instead of recipes and is aimed at the media rather than the consumer.

The objective of the 2004 campaign was to raise awareness of the health benefits and availability of UK berries and to make them a regular, everyday purchase, shifting the marketing emphasis away from luxury, summer desserts. Sputnik's overall brief was to increase sales and customer awareness, especially to younger consumers, families and children. Sputnik and BSF commissioned research into the health properties of soft fruit, which provided evidence that strawberries are the only homegrown fruit containing Vitamin C and that raspberries can alleviate the symptoms of hay fever. Also, that both fruits have high folate and antioxidant (ORAC), content and glycaemic load. More importantly, the research also established that strawberry seeds contain very high levels of zinc, excellent for a good sex life - what better PR could we ask for?

Well-known nutritionist and founder of the Institute for Optimum Nutrition, Patrick Holford (pictured), was recruited to analyse the research and was interviewed on over 40 radio stations exalting the virtues of British soft fruit. There was extensive coverage, focusing on strawberries and raspberries in particular, in all the major national newspapers and well over 150 pieces of coverage in regional newspapers and national magazines. The diverse list of titles includes The Times, the Daily Mirror, the News of the World, GQ, Cosmopolitan, OK! and Sky News. Stories were also published as far away as India, Russia and Australia. The success was huge, achieved by extremely positive coverage that lasted way beyond what most people consider to be the strawberry season. After an initial wave of news reporting, newspapers returned to the story upon discovering the effects their reports had on berry sales. Stories were still appearing in the national press at the beginning of December.

In all, Sputnik calculated a ratio of media coverage to PR spend of 55:1, an overwhelming proportion that brands and organisations can usually only dream of.

The campaign was helped along by several high profile names, including Victoria Beckham declaring she was on a strawberry-only diet during Euro 2004 in Portugal. This was followed by intense media coverage of the cellulite-beating properties of soft fruit and the release of the blockbuster film 'Wimbledon' at the end of the summer meant prolonged coverage. When BSF coordinated a berry hunt at the 2-day 'Fruitstock' festival in August, organised by pure fruit drink manufacturer Innocent, its healthy eating message was extended to 150,000 people in London's Regent's Park, which included a large number of children, the next generation of soft fruit consumers.

During 2004, for the first time, supermarket buyers received a BSF buyer report every Wednesday morning showing how many tonnes they are buying compared to other supermarkets. BSF is the only British horticultural organisation that offers this service and it has been found to increase competition between the multiples.

In August Monty Don provided what was perhaps the sole low point for the year. But, the Press Complaints Commission forced Don to retract his potentially harmful comment about pesticides, proving that BSF is now so strong and respected it is prepared to stand its ground and will not back down. Olins sees Don's latest attack on the industry on BBC2's inconclusive 'Money Programme' regarding polytunnels as distracting rather than damaging. "Our industry is one of the few success stories of British agriculture,"? he said. "It was a shame this didn't come across more strongly in the programme."

Thankfully, however, neither this nor Monty Don had a negative effect on sales. In fact, market penetration (number of households buying strawberries) increased from 63% in 2002 to 69%, while raspberries saw a 50% year-on-year growth in value. This was all achieved with an expenditure of 132,000, compared to an income from membership and HDC grant of 152,000. A part of the remainder of BSF's income will go towards bringing in expert witnesses and developing an information pack highlighting the importance of tunnels. The packs will be distributed to all growers to be used in the event of a challenge and also used to lobby MPs, Defra and the parliamentary circle as well as given to councils and planning permission officials when necessary.

During 2005, BSF will be using the HDC fund to find nutritional or health-giving properties of raspberries as they did to such rewarding effect in 2004 for strawberries. For its part, Sputnik will focus increasing attention on raspberries, as well as blueberries (see pages 6 and 13 for this year's phenomenal sales information) and strawberries.

Martin Seymour is satisfied with his first year as a board member. "I joined British Summer Fruits this year because I believe it is now an effective lobbyist and we are in a strong position to compete with our European counterparts."? Seymour is pleased with Sputnik's achievements and looks forward to working closely with his fellow 'Berry Barons' during 2005.