In late 2019, CMI Orchards launched a digital marketing strategy designed to directly target apple consumers and drive retail sales. In the most recent campaign, the participating retailer’s apple category sales dollars grew 14.8% over the previous year, with KIKU and Kanzi apples sales showing a 28% growth during the promotion period.
Working with MNI Targeted Media, CMI Orchards analyzed data to clearly identify target consumers and associated buying behavior. Using geotargeting, analytics, and research, CMI Orchards executes digital campaigns that drive consumers to retail locations, whether in person or online, for apples, pears, and cherries. One recent campaign resulted in 4,267 direct impressions to a grocery store’s website.
“CMI Orchards is the first Washington shipper to leverage digital advertising campaigns of this magnitude,” explained Marketing Specialist Danelle Huber. “We’ve worked hard to develop and use this cutting-edge technology to promote our brands and increase foot traffic to stores, and we’re able to offer it to retail partners in an easy and accessible manner. They do not need to invest any time or effort to take advantage of this tool.”
“CMI is really stepping out of the box and providing incredibly strong support to their growers and retailers with these digital tools. Once we were able to really identify key target audiences, we then narrowed in on their consumer behavior patterns. We use this data to build campaigns that deliver results,” explained Sabrina Baklenko, Account Executive at MNI Targeted Media.
In addition, CMI Orchards is the only Washington apple shipper to work directly with Instacart to sell bagged product. “We began partnering directly with Instacart just over a year ago. It has been interesting working with them and learning the ins and outs of their business. They’ve been extremely supportive of working through UPC barriers and have given us fantastic tools on how to grow in the digital and online sales sector. It’s a partnership we hope to continue to grow as we see online shopping continue to increase,” said Huber.
Retailers who are interested in learning more are invited to a free 30-minute webinar hosted by CMI Orchards and MNI Targeted Media on December 2 at 11:30PST. To learn more, please contact Danelle Huber, danelleh@cmiorcahrds.com.
