Grapples … They’re Baaaack!

Grapple Brand Apples are making a comeback with a re-introduction campaign and a free collector’s-edition soccer ball promotion for the 2009-2010 crop.

The promotion creates a dynamic, kid-friendly sales opportunity for retailers by combining the grape-flavored apple with soccer’s surging popularity via a colorful, high-graphic display unit that holds two cases of Grapple clamshell packages instructing shoppers to cut out two UPC bar codes and mail them with a completed order form and $4.99 to cover shipping and handling.

Wenatchee, Wash.-based Rainier Fruit Co. and Columbia Marketing International (CMI) are the exclusive producers of Grapple Brand Apples, which begin either as Washington Extra Fancy Gala or Fuji Apples that are then bathed in grape flavor especially suited to the premium, super-sweet apple varieties. The result is a uniquely sweet yet healthy treat that encourages children to see fresh apples as an attractive snacking option. For more information, visit www.grapplefruits.com.