IN the soft brown and caramel corner stands the chocolate bar, decked out in glittery wrapping and trim, the product of huge consumer research budgets backed by near limitless marketing money and a long time easy favourite for fans.
In the yellow corner, the home grown icon, lunch box staple and pin-up fruit for the health conscious, tightly wrapped in its own natural shell, the Australian banana.
Though the banana enters the fight a little battered from cyclonic conditions earlier in the season and backed only by levy dollars, it has taken a bold approach.
And so the Australian banana bravely industry enters into a new battlefront with its own declaration reminiscent of a pumped-up Vegas prize fighter: "To be the number one snack by 2015".
It's a big call, but one those driving the marketing for the industry are confident they can win.
What's more, it's given itself a timeframe to have it accomplished by 2015, as part of the Banana Industry Strategic Plan.
The catch-cry rang out from the early sessions of last week's ninth Australian Banana Industry Congress held at Coolum on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.
The first day held a strong emphasis on marketing, aimed at developing a way forward for the industry.
The fight for this market share has already gone two rounds (two years).
David Chenu, general manager marketing, Horticulture Australia Limited (HAL) outlined the campaign so far and its successes since 2009.
Mr Chenu said the charge given to him to make bananas Australia's 'number one snack food of choice by 2015' was clear.
Bananas are among Australia's top 10 supermarket lines.
On average 28 million bananas are consumed each week, which represents 13kg per person a year, the equivalent of 60-70 bananas per person.
Initial research, however, provided an awkward starting point.
"The challenge I found was with everyone I spoke to - and we spoke to thousands of people both directly and indirectly - is that they love bananas," he said.
Consumers aged 18-39 were targeted as a growth area to lift consumption by selling the positive health message.
"Our competition was quite clearly no other fruit, but our competition was processed foods - it was snack foods. It was unhealthy foods - foods that came in wrappers," Mr Chenu said.
Clever advertising incorporated the slogan "make those bodies sing".
David Weisz, HAL's marketing manager for bananas, then outlined the way forward for reaching the 2015 goal.
He revealed the industry's trump card to be played later this year, with a tie-in to the Emmy-award winning US musical television series, Glee.
Mr Weisz described bananas and Glee as a "perfect fit".
"We anticipate that the results of this sponsorship are going to be much stronger, much bigger, and get out to a lot more people than So You Think You Can Dance, and anything we've done before," he said.
"We've negotiated really, really hard with Channel 10 and I think we're coming to a really fantastic point where we are going to be able to take bananas to the next level."
The ambitious idea of a fruit shouldering into "stomach space" held by chocolate, donuts, lollies, biscuits and muesli bars is far from pie in the sky thinking.
In fact, the campaign has already had early successes.
Speaking on alternative distribution channels for fresh bananas, Martin Kneebone, director of marketing intelligence and consulting company, Freshlogic, gave details on a program aimed at getting bananas into petrol service stations and convenience stores such as 7-Eleven and Night Owl.
Prior to the cyclone bumping prices up, he said some outlets he visited had bananas placed on the front counter in space that the larger snack food manufacturers would pay for.
"You can't ask for more than that," he said.
Fruit vending machines and home boxed deliveries were two other avenues that held potential for bananas, according to Mr Kneebone.
But he said it was important when targeting the in-between meal market that the size and amount of the product was taken into consideration.
He said there was a place for the sale of individual bananas as opposed to an entire bunch, for the younger working class consumer.
"Often they are thinking about a meal for tonight, and in terms of snacks which is the business bananas are in, it'll be snacks for the next one or two days but that's all," Mr Kneebone said.
According to the Banana Industry Annual Report 2010/11, released at the congress, in October 2010, market research showed encouraging signs of a significant shift in consumer attitudes with increases in 'purchase intent' and increasingly consumers identifying bananas as a 'preferred energy snack'.
Backing the fight for snack food supremacy are the banana growers themselves via their marketing levy contributions which will come to a budgeted forecast of $3.876 million as of June 30, 2011.
Of that, $2.594 million is forecast to go toward marketing activities.
About 48 per cent of the 2010/11 banana levy funds expenditure went toward increasing demand, or marketing.
The banana industry's bold plan currently sits poised to pounce in late September when production is expected to be back on track.
Exactly whether 'big yellow' achieves its goal, on paper at least, will not be known until the end of 2014, but it stands ready to keep going around the ring as long as the funds will allow.
