As the Michigan asparagus season ends, the Michigan Asparagus Advisory Board takes stock of the highlights of the 2023 season, which include retail promotions, a new website, social promotions and a giveaway collaboration.
“As we end of the season, we are proud that our marketing efforts played a role in driving sales,” Jamie Clover Adams, executive director of the board, said in a news release. “But looking ahead we know we still have work to do for the 2024 season and beyond to help buyers and consumers understand the quality opportunity in Michigan asparagus and lock in sales that support our domestic growers.”
The asparagus season began with the launch of a website that offered a more user-friendly experience providing visitors the opportunity to access additional content that is interactive and informative including recipes and grower highlights, according to the release.
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The board worked with three influencers who created 17 recipes and helped yield over 308,038 impressions across social media on both the Michigan Asparagus pages on Facebook and Instagram. Throughout the season, online food influencers were part of the hype machine developing new recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner to provide meal inspiration and incentivize purchases, according to the release.
The buzz around the flavorful and tender nature of asparagus was apparent through over 45,025,273 million impressions generated through national food media and regular content on social, the board said.
New in 2023 was a social giveaway collaboration with American Kitchen. The “Cooking the American Dream Giveaway” highlighted American grown and American made products. The storytelling also included a new video series highlighting the delectable attributes and benefits of Michigan asparagus.
If online engagement created the inspiration, retailers did their part with the promotions that included digital promos, in-store displays and demos to incentivize purchase, the board said.
