Montague have entered a new phase of ownership with AustOn Corp completing its acquisition of one of the leading Australian fresh produce companies in May 2024. AustOn, the Australian agriculture arm of Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, will merge Pomona Valley, a subsidiary of Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, with Montague to form a one unified business.

Founded in 1948 by William (Bill) Montague OAM, Montague started as a carting operation and has since grown into a renowned provider of premium fresh produce. With over 75 years of operations and a rich family history, Montague leads the apple category, supplying high-quality produce to national supermarkets, wholesalers, and the export market.
Pomona Valley, located in Victoria’s Goulburn Valley, specializes in growing and packing substantial volumes of pome and stone fruits, continuing a fruit-growing legacy in the region spanning 140 years.

The fresh produce market is increasingly competitive, with consumers more interested than ever in origin, methods, and practices. Montague, known for its strong reputation, acknowledges the importance of staying current and appealing to a broader audience. AustOn offers opportunities for scale and high-quality fruit. The merged business introduces new dimensions to their offerings, and they need a brand that reflects this breadth of service and future growth mentality.

Challenge
Develop a mastebrand identity that will umbrella the various sub brands eg. Nectara, Jazz
To create market cut through and re-introduce an invigorated new business to the category and retailers.
Creatively bring to life a new brandmark reflecting the fusion of two powerhouse Aussie growers
Communicate a sense of scale and credibility with a future growth attitude.
Bringing to life a new brandmark that challenges the status quo and becomes a category disruptor.
Balance history and future, people and tech, innovation and tradition.

Solution
Working through a rigorous strategic and creative program we ran workshops and discovery sessions with key stakeholders to actively understand the key strategic objectives. This enabled us to distill and uncover the strategic platforms in which to build a foundation and drive our creative intent.

The new positioning ‘for the joy of it’ was centred around the pure delight of Montague Farms – be it chomping into a juicy apple, seeing your crop grow, or launching a new and exciting product.

The Identity Creatively captures the power of being progressive industry leaders with a passionate human foundation. The brandmark is in part made up of a trilogy of icons – An iconic story – Land • Growth • Harvest. Executed with a perfectly-imperfect human feel, it conveys joy, nature and future growth. The id demonstrates their dedication to using their generations of farming wisdom, love of the land and green thumbs to create exceptional tasting fruit for local families, for the global community and for the joy of it! The new identity was rolled out across their website, social assets, corporate marketing collateral and apparel.