California Strawberry Commission kicks off promotions
The Watsonville-based California Strawberry Commission has kicked off a number of programs this season to encourage consumption of California strawberries.
“We launched our ‘Snack on This’ campaign on March 3 at the WeAllGrow influencer summit in Long Beach,” said Chris Christian, senior vice president.
Snack on This digital advertising will run on the commission’s social media channels from April through Labor Day as well as on AllRecipes.com from June through August, she said.
Each month features a consumer contest promoted via the commission’s website — californiastrawberries.com — social media and a monthly e-newsletter.
“The Snack on This campaign capitalizes on the increased consumer interest in snacking,” Christian said.
“Consumers today get about 25% of their daily calories from snacks, and moms are looking for convenient, tasty, healthy snack ideas their families will love,” she said.
Several hundred multicultural digital influencers in food and lifestyle attended the kickoff event, Christian said.
The commission also has plans in place to help retailers sell more California strawberries.
“We offer consumer recipe brochures for in-store promotion, plus recipes and recipe photography on our website to support retailers in their consumer promotion programs,” she said.
Seasonal themes and social media posts can be found in the commission’s Retail Dietitian Toolkit, available on the website.
The California Strawberry Commission’s Retail Registered Dietitians Toolkit is specifically designed for retail dietitians and is filled with resources, such as a store tour cheat sheet, fast strawberry nutrition facts, recipe cards, cooking demo scripts and a calendar of easy-to-execute ideas to help retailers pitch and plan store activities year-round, according to the commission’s website.
The Registered Dietitians Toolkit includes a wealth of information and inspiration for health professionals, the commission says, including the latest on strawberry nutrition research, a plug-and-play editorial calendar, printable resources, social media content and recipes from registered dietitians and popular food bloggers.
On the health front, the commission is continuing to invest in health research and promoting health benefits in its consumer campaign and to registered dietitians through partnerships with leading health trade associations, Christian said.
Those associations include the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the California Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the American Diabetes Association.
“We are launching a quarterly newsletter for health professionals as well,” she added.
