This season, Avocados from Peru is embarking on a multifaceted lifestyle campaign that is as tactical as it is tasty.
From sports tie-ins with retailer partners to strategic in-store promotions to professional sports to a gourmet food show to a night at the museum, Avocados from Peru aims to be everywhere during its five-month marketing window.
“We’re launching a very robust, multitactical and multifaceted campaign this year,” Xavier Equihua, president and CEO of the Peruvian Avocado Commission, told The Packer.
Beyond the usual in-store display bins and custom POS materials, Avocados from Peru plans to implement e-coupons, social engagement, a TV campaign with retailer tags, video content, radio spots and more. On the TV front, Avocados from Peru is set to be the local sponsor of the MLB All-Star Game and FIFA Women’s World Cup.
It has also developed a full roster of events throughout the Peruvian avocado season from June through late October/early November to complement its in-store campaign.
Retailer regalia
On the retailer partnership front, PAC is reprising its Avo Tesla promotion, launching a special edition Avo Tesla Model 3 Summer Sweepstakes Giveaway in partnership with the Arlington, Va.-based Lidl and other leading retailers. For the Lidl sweepstakes, PAC is also giving away an Avo electric bike and a $2,000 Lidl shopping spree.
“The Avo Tesla campaign is back because it was so popular and successful last year,” Equihua said. The multifaceted and multitactical in-store and out-of-store campaign will cover 10 states from New York down to South Carolina from July 1 to Sept. 5.
“For the 2023 season, PAC is also partnering with the Cincinnati-based Kroger Co., Chevrolet and the Atlanta Braves to promote eating healthy and living green via the most unique summer sweepstakes program in the MLB,” Equihua said.
The Avo Braves Summer Sweepstakes program, which runs July 1 to Sept. 15, includes a plethora of activities and promotions at Kroger stores, the official supermarket of the Atlanta Braves.
“This has never been done before with Major League Baseball,” Equihua said. “We wanted to bring more awareness to Peruvian avocados and encourage Kroger shoppers to buy more avocados, and what better way to do it but with one of the most iconic baseball teams, the Atlanta Braves.”
The campaign will allow three lucky Kroger customers the opportunity to win an electric vehicle specially wrapped in Braves regalia, a Braves VIP experience or a $2,000 Kroger shopping spree.
“This partnership with Kroger not only offers the retailer something unique; it also spotlights avocados in an area of the country with the lowest avocado consumption in the U.S. and the least number of avocado promotions,” Equihua said.
The campaign will be featured in multiple stores in July, August and September to “raise awareness of avocados in a fun and engaging way,” he said.
Are avocado fans ready for some football?
Last year Avocados from Peru was named the official avocado and superfood of the Los Angeles Rams. This year, PAC plans to run a similar promotion in partnership with the Cleveland Browns and the National Football League’s official supermarket, Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Meijer.
The sports/retailer partnerships also speak to a healthy lifestyle and the versatility of avocados, Equihua says.
“Avocados are more than a fruit; they’re food,” Equihua said. “They have really become a cultural phenomenon around the world and in the U.S., as more and more Americans aren’t eating what their grandparents were eating. Today, tacos and hamburgers are neck and neck in popularity, and the avocado is king in the produce space because of consumers’ desire for healthy eating.”
But despite the allure, elevating avocados to a lifestyle ingredient takes marketing savvy.
“One of the best ways to reach people directly is through sports,” continued Equihua. “It amplifies the message around eating healthy, living green and exercising.”
Avocados from Peru is also partnering with Grocery Outlet in San Diego to complement its in-store promotions by holding its Classic Guacamole Challenge to celebrate National Avocado day on July 31.
This “one-of-a-kind challenge” introduced by Avocados from Peru in 2018 is set to be held at the San Diego Food Bank on July 31, Equihua said. The event features San Diego media reporters competing for the Avocados from Peru Silver Avocado Trophy.
“It’s a perfect program because guacamole is everyone’s favorite, and we’ll be supporting Grocery Outlet’s Independence from Hunger campaign,” Equihua said. “By donating avocados for both the challenge and the San Diego Food Bank, we’ll be lifting the category while also helping those in need.”
Under the Independence from Hunger program, which is in its 13th year, people that donate $5 or more receive a $5 coupon to use on a future shopping trip. The donation benefits local food banks. Last year, more than $2.5 million was raised to combat food insecurity, Equihua said.
“These dynamic, one-of-a-kind partnerships are critical to category growth,” says Equihua, “especially when talking about a category that has been static for several years.
“We need to help jump-start sales if we are to reach 3 billion pounds this year,” Equihua continued. “Our goal is to help the category grow faster, as our collective goal is to reach 4 billion pounds in the coming years.”
Gourmet green
Avocados from Peru will also showcase its AVO Food Truck at the 2023 Summer Fancy Food Show, where it plans to serve all things avocados to the thousands of people that will descend upon New York’s Javitz Center, June 25-27.
Long considered the premier show of the specialty food industry, historically fresh produce hasn’t had a presence at the event. Avocados from Peru is ready to change that.
“We think it’s important for Peruvian avocados to have a presence at a major food show targeting restaurant foodservice and specialty retailers,” Equihua said.
Additionally, this summer Avocados from Peru will be dispatching its logo-emblazoned AVO Food Truck to select supermarkets on the East Coast, where sampling will give consumers the opportunity to engage with the brand.
Art and avocados
Avocados from Peru is further extending its cultural reach this summer through a partnership with the Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, Ark.
The partnership includes the co-sponsoring with Coca Cola and Goldman Sachs of Diego Rivera’s America exhibit. In honor of the exhibition, the museum plans to hold an Avocados from Peru-themed dinner on July 12, and on July 23, the first-ever Guacamole Challenge held in the Ozarks. Avocados from Peru also plans to make a “significant donation of avocados” to local food banks in the Bentonville area, Equihua says.
“First and foremost, Avocados from Peru is here to help the whole avocado category, as in most cases, consumers don’t buy by origin,” Equihua said. “That’s also the case with other avocado boards. We all help each other and at the end of the day, we elevate the whole category.”
