T&G Global, one of the largest produce companies in New Zealand, created a buzz this year with a refresh of the bee-pollinated brand Beekist into new sustainable packaging and with the continued success of their award-winning, lower-carb Lotatoes. Beekist had a packaging makeover with cardboard replacing plastic punnets in September. It will remove 5.5 million plastic punnets from supermarket shelves or 100 tonnes less plastic that Kiwis take home every year. The move to more sustainable punnets is part of the company’s focus on innovation, their commitment to the environment and the belief that the less tinkering you do to Mother Nature, the better. “Consumer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive particularly via social media channels, our main promotional platform,” said Michelle Singh, NZ marketing manager. “The great news is that consumers can get high-quality, sweet, great tasting tomatoes and also know that they are taking the sting out of the environment when they buy our tomatoes.” Beekist has a wide range currently on offer including Angel, Tasty Mix, Jellybean, Melody, Heritage, Farmers Harvest, Sunshine Mix, Chefs Selection and the new Kumato. The award-winning, lower carb and lower calorie Lotatoes, launched by T&G in 2017, scooped multiple local and international awards in 2018 including the hotly contested TVNZ–NZ Marketing Awards. Lotatoes, up against other high-profile brands, also took out the Best Marketing on a Shoestring Budget category at the New Zealand Marketing awards.
The brand also won the Health & Wellness Category at the UK- based 2018 Gama Innovation Awards held in Manchester in October and the PMA Australia-New Zealand 2018 Marketer of the Year Award for its Lotatoes campaign in June. Singh said the wins were another fantastic accolade for Lotatoes which has already won four major awards since launching in 2017, “Lotatoes has struck the right chord with a growing number of people interested in their health and wellbeing but wanting the same great taste afforded by an everyday potato. They’ve taken the country by storm, and we’re thrilled to be recognised in New Zealand, Australia and the UK.” The Lotatoes and Beekist marketing campaigns were led by T&G’s marketing team with support from Tenfold Creative, plus strong PR and social media activity from T&G’s internal marketing and PR team, and The PR Shop. Expect more brand innovation from the team at T&G Global over the next 12 months. For more information visit www.tandg.global.com or phone 09 573 8700.
