Reid Fruits
A complete connected packaging solution: why Reid Fruits keeps coming back for more
Exporter of premium Tasmanian cherries Reid Fruits came to Laava® for its innovative counterfeit prevention technology. They stayed for our complete connected packaging solution and digital storytelling.
The partnership led to an integrated solution taking in not only authentication and brand protection but also document verification of supplier certificates and asset integrity for packaging and labelling. Well-executed marketing campaigns in dedicated export markets tied it all together, with influencers sharing their passion for the premium-quality product that Reid Fruits is known for.
The Project
In export markets, Reid Fruits was seeing thousands of counterfeits of its boxes of premium Tasmanian cherries. The brand was in high demand and had a strong reputation that was at risk from inferior products sold under fake Reid Fruits branding.
In the 2019-20 season, Reid Fruits introduced Laava Smart Fingerprints® on its cherry boxes bound for 20 export markets. The result: only 10 counterfeit attempts, all of which were automatically stopped by the Laava platform.
Backing up their success in 2020-21, the number of counterfeit attempts dropped even further, to just three: a 60% reduction over the previous year.
And in the 2021-22 season: zero. Absolutely no recorded attempts made to associate the Reid Fruits brand with inferior products. The counterfeiters had moved on to exploit other brands that were not taking measures to protect themselves.
— Tony Coad, Manager Marketing and Sales, Reid Fruits“In the 2018/19 season in China, the counterfeiters had made a complete digital copy of our carton. We were using highly intricate laser-cut stickers affixed to our carton lids at that time – a new and different sticker design at the start of each season – as an anti-counterfeit measure. The copy carton included a digital image of the new sticker for the 2018/19 season.
At that point, we had also been using a printed card within each carton with the cherries with a QR code linked to a Reid Fruits website for customers to check authenticity through the QR code. The counterfeiters had also copied this card incorporating their own QR card linked back to their own fake Reid Fruits website to verify the carton as authentic.
We were also using carton liners printed with the Reid Fruits logo and carton bases with a watermark printed Reid Fruits logo – this was also copied.
All this happened within a week of our product arriving in the market in the 2018/19 season.
In the cherry season just gone (2021/22) we didn’t receive any reports of counterfeit products in market or any sign of attempts to counterfeit our cartons or labels."
Along the way, Reid Fruits’ confidence in Laava and our partners was such that they expanded the relationship to also adopt our customer engagement features – and then our document integrity offering.
A cross-platform social media campaign in China led by RooLife Group saw followers and engagement sky-rocket in the target demographics – cementing the Reid Fruits brand as the authentic, trusted exporter of highly sought-after premium Tasmanian cherries.
Objectives
With its goal of preventing counterfeit attempts on Reid Fruits products well under control, Reid Fruits turned its attention to using Laava and partners’ connected packaging solution for digital storytelling.
Laava partner RooLife Group set about creating a cross-platform campaign with enough wow factor to draw eyes in the lucrative Chinese market – utilising content such as livestream, video, influencers and more. Influencers created engaging posts showcasing their excitement at receiving and unboxing their new-season Tasmanian cherries, as well as tutorials on testing cherries for freshness and making cherry-based recipes.
— Gavin Ger, CEO, Laava“Reid Fruits has today elevated its brand to be a leader in the premium cherry market in Asia, and is now leveraging Laava’s unique combination of brand trust, product traceability and digital storytelling capabilities.”
RooLife Group used platforms as diverse as:
- WeChat used by 1.2bn people in China every day
- Little Red Book used by 100mn+ shoppers in China, mostly young women (read more here)
- Bilbili video platform, which has 267mn+ monthly active users
- Tmall China’s largest cross-border eCommerce platform.
As a further show of its commitment to its supply chain partners, Reid Fruits supplied its licensed distributors with a certificate of authenticity featuring a Laava Smart Fingerprint. The certificates are provided to wholesalers, retailers and related parties, who could scan our Global Mark of Trust™ to verify the on-sellers’ legitimacy – a document integrity measure that could only strengthen the brand reputation.
— Tony Coad, Manager Marketing and Sales, Reid Fruits“This year, the certificates were mainly taken up in the China market, where distributor interest was especially strong and consumers are particularly concerned about knowing how to verify and purchase genuine product.
One of the things we know is that customers and consumers are very interested in knowing where they can buy genuine and authentic Reid Fruits premium cherries.
The new and secure authorised certificates this season with their own individual Laava Smart Fingerprint enabled our importers and their distributors to verify to customers they were authorised to sell genuine Reid Fruits product.”
In 2020, Laava partnered with the Harmonised Australian Retailer Produce Scheme (HARPS) to protect their industry certifications. While primarily designed for the Australian domestic market, HARPS certificates are increasingly being used in export trade, raising the potential for misrepresentation. Each HARPS certificate now features a unique Laava Smart Fingerprint – enabling instant verification by anyone globally.
The success of Reid Fruits’ sales in China is more impressive when measured against the challenging environment it was operating in. Like exporters all around the globe, they faced Covid pandemic-related challenges: lockdowns, shipping delays, border closures and quarantine restrictions. They also had to navigate a complex international trade environment, plus the season had produced more fruit that was smaller in size.
Reid Fruits knew from experience that product substitution was rife; this was further evidenced by Hong Kong authorities intercepting sizable quantities of fellow Tasmanian exporter Hansen Orchards’ 43 Degrees South brand (its QR code offering providing a lower level of security than Laava).
Results
The impressive results for Reid Fruits strengthened year on year:
- 2019-20: dramatic reduction in counterfeit attempts.
- 2020-21: further innovation with additional partner forensic and traceability capabilities.
- 2021-22: a complete connected packaging solution for counterfeit prevention, brand protection, digital storytelling, and customer engagement in a highly competitive environment.
By the numbers:
- Thousands of scans of Laava Smart Fingerprints were actioned across Hong Kong, China and other regional markets.
- Competition click through rates (CTR) were impressive, with the native WeChat mini program delivering 28% CTR, and the web-based comp delivering 37% CTR.
- Highest numbers of scans came from Hong Kong (55% of total scans) and China Kong (26%).
- In China, 100% of the scans came from the WeChat scanner. WeChat was also more commonly used in Japan (76%) and Macao (68%).
- Outstanding customer assurance of product authentication, highlighted directly via customer feedback that they could validate the authenticity and provenance of their cherry purchases.
- Followers and engagement growth in the target demographics, with engagement on Reid Fruits profiles up 175% year on year, almost doubling follower counts, and some posts resulting in 408K+ views.
- In Little Red Book, Reid Fruits posted 8 times a month and attracted 2,071 new followers to a total of 11,295. Trending terms like #ReidFruits attracted an impressive 408,000+ views.
- A post revealing the Laava Smart Fingerprint on-product label for 2022 attracted 2,600+ views; the list of authorised distributors for Reid Fruits cherries, featuring the on-certificate Fingerprint, attracted 4,800+ views.
- User-generated content creation included high-quality videos such as unboxing their cherry delivery, testing the product for freshness, and making cherry-based recipes.
- The 2022 integrated activity solidified the Reid Fruits brand as the authentic, trusted exporter of highly sought-after premium Tasmanian cherries.
Tony Coad of Reid Fruits says it was inspiring to work with Laava’s professional, innovative team. “This has led to opportunities for additional promotion and direct connection with our customers and end consumers - through Laava and our collaboration with RooLife - as well as enhanced protection of our brand, through Laava and the provenance verification work we are doing with Source Certain,” he said.
— Tony Coad, Manager Marketing and Sales, Reid Fruits“I would highly recommend that businesses explore the opportunities and benefits that the Laava solution has to offer.”
Customer and Partner Collaborations
APAC Provenance
APAC Provenance is an industry alliance focused on building trusted and resilient supply chains, by helping exporters digitally enable and scientifically prove the provenance, traceability and authenticity of their products.
Many partners mentioned below are APAC Provenvenace members, working collaboratively to combine the best capabilities of a range of scientific provenance verification, traceability, trade finance, brand protection and consumer engagement.
Collectively, APAC Provenance can offer exporters outstanding solutions which build business value and achieve the best possible outcomes for exporters and the global consumers of our products; all under one roof.
RooLife Group
With a focus on China and its 1.4bn consumers, RooLife Group delivered the cross-platform campaign that built up consumer awareness of the forthcoming cherry season, Reid Fruits place as the trusted provider of premium Tasmanian cherries, and the proof of authenticity provided by Laava Smart Fingerprints.
Not only did RooLife run the campaign, they have:
- built the Reid Fruits WeChat mini program, tailoring their solutions to meet the demands of their market and making Reid Fruits stand out in the premium fruits category
- delivered two competitions enabled by the on-product Fingerprint
- developed influencer campaigns with compelling video content
- hosted a livestream event at a distribution centre
- organised giveaways, and
- coordinated a PR campaign in China.
Source Certain
With leading capabilities in provenance, analytical and forensic sciences, Source Certain was well placed to provide scientific provenance assurance through its testing of fruit both at the source in Tasmanian orchards and in distribution centres in China.
— Tony Coad, Manager Marketing and Sales, Reid Fruits“These are really different but complementary layers of our anti-counterfeit program. The warning to potential counterfeiters is that, through the provenance sampling and verification testing we are doing with Source Certain, we can prove legally that any counterfeit product detected is not genuine and has not been produced from Reid Fruits orchards.”
Escavox
Our supply chain partner Escavox provides independent and objective data on the performance of fresh food supply chains, from farm to retail shelf via data loggers and a sophisticated analytics platform. Escavox mapped the supply chain temperatures from the packhouse in Australia through to the Chinese distribution networks. These solutions have an ease of implementation for Reid Fruits, without any system process changes or new systems to be deployed.
Peacock Bros.
Digital printer Peacock Bros. produced premium-quality labels, featuring gold foil and a strong call to action to really capture consumer attention. Managing Director Ryan McGrath said he was excited to work with Laava’s connected packaging solution for brand protection, consumer engagement, augmented reality, product track and trace capabilities, and supply chain improvements.
“Peacock Bros. is excited to be supporting Laava in disrupting the business model of counterfeiters with an innovative solution that combines advanced digital printing technologies. With consumers and brand owners across the Asia-Pacific region becoming increasingly concerned about authenticity, solutions that validate products and limit counterfeit goods in the supply chain will enhance buyer confidence and help protect brand reputation and integrity.”— Ryan McGrath, Managing Director, Peacock Bros.
Gravitas Media
Working as an integrated partner with Laava our pre-press partner Gravitas Media prepped all the print files to ensure the design of the high-quality on-product labels to make it fast and easy for Peacock Bros. to deliver the quality labels Reid Fruits needed.
Visy
A global leader in packaging and resource recovery, Visy is Reid Fruits’ long-standing carton supplier, producing the sturdy cherry boxes that not just house the precious product but also deliver the cherries in the most luxurious and prestigious packaging.