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Tart cherry to shed sweet-as-pie image

The man who persuaded the nation to drink milk now wants to sell us on cherries, the "superfruit."

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published February 14, 2007

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - The very mention of tart cherries can evoke pleasant thoughts: Grandma in her apron, lifting a freshly baked pie from the oven on a long-ago summer day, back when calories and trans fats didn't seem to matter.

They do now, of course. So the grower-funded Cherry Marketing Institute has kicked off a campaign to broaden the appeal of tart cherries by transforming their reputation. No longer are they a mere ingredient in fattening desserts. Now they're a "superfruit" - bursting with antioxidants that may ease pain from arthritis and gout while helping ward off heart disease and cancer.

"In a sense, we're reintroducing a fruit that we're all familiar with," said Phil Korson, the institute's president.

Cherry sales have fallen off over the past decade because of changing consumer preferences, crop damage from bad weather and higher European tariffs.

Michigan produces about 75 percent of the nation's tart cherries, followed by Utah and Washington state. Canadian growers also are supporting the health food initiative, which goes public this week.

Its director is Jeff Manning, a Northern California marketing strategist and chief architect of the "Got milk?" campaign, which some credit with reversing a long slide in milk sales.

Manning plans a similar approach for tart cherries. Food image makeovers are his specialty; previous clients include producers of beef, raisins and those incredible, edible eggs.

But instead of his $22-million annual budget as executive director of the California Milk Processor Board, Manning will have $1.2-million raised by farmers from a 1 cent levy on each pound of cherries harvested. Teaming with Weber Shandwick Worldwide, a Chicago public relations agency, he has devised a plan for spreading the superfruit message through the media - with heavy emphasis on the Internet.

They've helped the Cherry Marketing Institute overhaul its Web site, www.choosecherries.com, and design a new logo and slogan: "Cherries. Not just another berry."

The publicity drive will include a summary of 65 studies of cherries' health benefits, which Manning's team will pitch to nutrition experts and fitness magazines. The industry is pumping $265,000 into further research through the University of Michigan's alternative medicine unit.

[Last modified February 13, 2007, 22:20:12]