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In this milestone 100th episode of the Lucentlands Podcast, hosts Dewald Kirsten and Louise Brodie sit down with two of the most influential figures in global fruit branding — Abs van Rooyen, the visionary behind Clemengold, and Peter Dahl, founding chairman of the Pink Lady International Alliance.
Together, they unpack the fascinating journeys of how these two fruit brands became household names — Pink Lady redefining the apple category globally, and Clemengold transforming South Africa’s citrus landscape.
Peter shares the origins of Pink Lady in Western Australia in the 1970s, how government breeders accidentally created a global icon, and the lessons learned in reclaiming control of a brand that had been sold across the world. Abs traces the evolution of Clemengold from a nursery venture to a fully fledged brand — built through innovation, quality control, and an exclusive retail partnership with Woolworths.
This episode offers an inside look at what it takes to turn fruit into a brand: from strict licensing and marketing discipline to decades-long investments in consumer trust. It’s a conversation about vision, persistence, and the art of transforming agriculture into global storytelling.
Key Takeaways:
•Brand control is everything: A brand succeeds when quality, supply, and marketing are tightly managed across the value chain.
•Consistency builds trust: Taste, color, packaging, and presentation must stay uniform to create recognition.
•Long-term investment pays off: Clemengold and Pink Lady both took more than a decade to reach retail success.
•Partnerships matter: Exclusive collaborations (like Clemengold’s with Woolworths) and disciplined marketing (like Pink Lady’s in Europe) are crucial.
•Producer ownership: Both guests stress that successful fruit brands must remain farmer-led — not retailer-owned.
•Lessons for the next generation: Focus, discipline, and passion are essential if you want to turn an agricultural product into a global icon.
As Abs notes: “Be an inch wide and a mile deep — not the other way around.”
And Peter adds: “If you want to build a brand, you’d better be passionate about it.”
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