Molly Pop Grape and Citrus Co. isn’t a traditional produce marketer. John Cymbal, the company’s co-founder and chief marketing officer, says the company doesn’t even look at produce as competition but instead at snacks in general.
“From Day 1, the goal was never to compete with the grapes next to us or other produce for that matter,” he says. “It was to compete with the things in your cart that weren’t grapes.”
Cymbal joins “The Packer Podcast” to talk about how Molly Pop approaches produce marketing from a different perspective. He says it’s drawing on the nostalgia of childhood sweets. People don’t eat produce because it’s healthy, he adds; people flock to produce because it tastes good and it brings joy.
“We leaned hard with Molly Pop with the flavor and the crunch and that nostalgia of candy,” he says. “Because our produce tastes like candy, it just echoes all that joy. And we’re not trying to leave the produce aisle with any of this. We’re trying to take a share back from the snack aisle.”
Cymbal says building brand awareness and loyalty in the produce department can be a bit of a challenge, but he says it begins with an experience.
“Those emotional connections are so key, and they’re very hard to get,” he says. “But building emotions with connections through consistency and delight in everything that we offer. You have to have that consistency, always be giving them some delight, to engage them, to excite them. ... What we’re striving to do is when you grab that pink bag, you’re picking up a promise that that’s what’s going to be in there.”
Cymbal says that the seasonality of fresh produce offers marketers an opportunity to create buzz and excitement, much like clothing and shoe companies that offer limited-time drops.
“Produce is inherently limited-edition,” he says. “Which is awesome. Every harvest is a moment. How do we capitalize on that? Every variety has a window, and we just decided to market it honestly, like culture does. When we have our availability calendar, those are all moments to engage, to get people excited. And those moments start with a moment by creating stories that back them up.”
Cymbal says these “curated picks” of fresh produce offer consumers quality and a flavor experience they can expect in every bag.
“That’s the edge of produce,” he says. “Because we are inherently limited-edition. ... Our grapes or produce becomes emotional when it stops being a commodity and it really starts to be a moment.”
And as for how Cymbal and his team work with retailers to bring Molly Pop into stores in a produce department that already offers grapes, he says the conversation is around repeat behavior.
“I try to tell them in one way or another that we’re not selling grapes, we’re not selling citrus, we’re not selling juice — we’re selling repeat behavior,” he says. “We’re giving your store a destination that guarantees what’s in this particular slot is going to be bright, bold, fresh and beautiful.”
And while many consumers might come to a produce department to buy a standard red, green or black grape, that’s not the ideal Molly Pop customer.
“We’re looking for a consumer who wants something new, fresh, innovative; it makes you want to come back for more,” Cymbal says. “That’s what we’re pushing for every single time. We want consistently people to come in. We want people to crave it. We want people to think about it and to have, you know, Molly Pop as that destination for all of that.”
