Marlene® has launched a new autumn consumer campaign designed to strengthen its connection with shoppers while giving retailers additional tools to communicate apple variety, flavour, provenance and usage at the point of sale.

The “Enjoy the gift of nature” campaign launches on 21 September and will run across multiple consumer touchpoints, including in-store activity, with content built around the sensory characteristics of Marlene apple varieties and the different ways they can be used in the kitchen.

The launch coincides with the South Tyrolean apple harvest, a key point in the Marlene calendar when the annual growing cycle moves into commercial supply. The first Gala, Golden Delicious and Granny Smith apples are already being harvested, with other varieties due to follow over the coming months through to Fuji.

According to VOG, the organisation behind the Marlene brand, more than 4,000 apple growers contribute to the production network in South Tyrol.

The campaign is intended to build a more direct connection between that production base and consumers by presenting apples not simply as individual varieties, but as products shaped by origin, seasonality, flavour, aroma and farming.

For supermarkets, that provides a broader merchandising story around the category. Rather than relying only on variety names or colour to differentiate apples on shelf, Marlene is increasingly using sensory information and food-pairing ideas to help shoppers understand the differences between individual products.

The brand’s Aroma Wheel forms part of that approach. It is designed to describe the flavour, aroma and texture of different Marlene varieties, giving consumers a clearer guide when choosing between apples.

Food-pairing initiatives will also feature within the campaign, showing consumers how individual varieties can be used beyond everyday snacking and incorporated into meals and recipes.

That strategy builds on Marlene’s existing collaboration with South Tyrolean chef Norbert Niederkofler, which has previously been used to demonstrate the culinary potential of different apple varieties.

The latest campaign continues a broader shift in how Marlene has been communicating the brand. In 2025, Marlene marked its 30th anniversary with a creative competition inviting consumers to interpret the apple through art, literature, music and cuisine.

That activity was followed by further campaigns centred on creativity, origin and the relationship between apples and the landscape in which they are grown. The new “Enjoy the gift of nature” platform makes that connection more explicit.

“For some time now, our narrative has centred on Marlene®’s special bond with nature,” said Hannes Tauber, Marketing Manager at VOG.

“We did this last year with the creative competition to mark our 30th anniversary, which, by portraying the apple as a natural masterpiece, invited people to draw inspiration from its world to create genuine works of art, literature, music or cuisine.”

Tauber said the new campaign brings the positioning closer to everyday consumption.

“Not just high-quality apples, but an invitation to enjoy the gift of nature,” he said.

He added that the approach responds to consumers increasingly looking for brands with a clear identity while also giving retailers a consistent narrative that can support engagement at the point of sale.

The campaign will use an integrated multi-channel plan spanning different consumer touchpoints and in-store environments.

The aim is to maintain a consistent visual and brand identity while giving supermarkets more content around apple varieties, aromas, flavours and usage occasions.

That can be particularly useful in fresh produce, where several apple varieties are often merchandised side by side and shoppers may not always understand the differences between them.

Marlene’s branded range includes established varieties such as Royal Gala, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith and Fuji alongside other apples available through VOG’s wider portfolio.

VOG’s official brand information states that seven standard Marlene varieties carry the South Tyrolean Apple PGI designation: Royal Gala, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Stayman Winesap, Braeburn, Red Delicious and Fuji.

The geographical indication connects the fruit directly with its South Tyrolean production origin.

VOG’s scale also gives the campaign significance beyond a single seasonal promotion. The consortium currently brings together 10 cooperatives and more than 4,000 producers farming around 10,700 hectares in South Tyrol.

Its current corporate information puts annual fruit production at approximately 550,000 tonnes, with products distributed across more than 70 international markets.

The 2026/27 season has also started against a relatively stable production backdrop. In its late-August harvest update, VOG said overall volumes were expected to remain broadly in line with the previous season.

The first Gala harvest began around one week earlier following high summer temperatures.

VOG also said more than 75% of its orchard area is protected by hail nets, rising to close to 100% for some club varieties. Those systems are designed primarily to protect fruit from hail damage but can also reduce solar radiation and help limit sunscald during periods of high temperatures.

For buyers, the commercial relevance of the latest Marlene campaign lies in how those production credentials are translated into something shoppers can understand.

Fresh produce suppliers have traditionally relied heavily on variety, grade, price and origin. Marlene is attempting to add another layer by using flavour language, food pairing, provenance and consistent brand presentation to differentiate apples within the fixture.

That gives retailers more scope to merchandise the category around usage and preference rather than presenting apples as largely interchangeable products.

The timing is also important. Autumn is the point when several of Marlene’s best-known varieties enter the market and when consumers are more closely exposed to the new-season crop.

Launching the campaign alongside the harvest allows the brand to connect advertising, in-store communication and product availability within the same seasonal window.

The approach is designed to provide a consistent framework that can be adapted across different markets and store environments. The Aroma Wheel, food-pairing content and the broader focus on origin and seasonality will form part of that communication throughout the campaign.

As the harvest progresses from Gala, Golden Delicious and Granny Smith through to later varieties including Fuji, the effectiveness of the campaign will ultimately depend on how clearly that story is translated at the shelf edge.

For Grocery Trade News readers, the development also fits into the wider Italian apple sector covered in our Italian apple companies guide, where branded varieties, origin and retailer-facing category strategies are increasingly important parts of the commercial proposition.

Marlene’s latest campaign shows how that strategy is moving beyond conventional seasonal advertising and towards a more structured category approach combining provenance, sensory guidance, culinary inspiration and in-store communication.

Editor’s Note: This article is based primarily on a Marlene®/VOG press release supplied directly to Grocery Trade News on 21 September 2026. Additional information on VOG’s grower network, production scale, current harvest, Marlene varieties, earlier campaigns and collaboration with Norbert Niederkofler was checked against VOG’s official corporate and newsroom material. No unsupported market-share or sales-performance figures have been added.