Avocados From Mexico switches up its playbook for Super Bowl LV

Avocados From Mexico’s Super Bowl campaign has a new centerpiece this year, with the organization opting for a $1 million sweepstakes and point-of-sale material featuring popular NFL broadcasters Troy Aikman and Erin Andrews.

“Avocados From Mexico may not be participating in the big game with an ad this year, but we’re taking this opportunity to explore marketing solutions (for) one of our biggest consumption holidays .... “ said Stephanie Bazan, vice president of trade and market development for Avocados From Mexico. “We have developed (360-degree) shopper marketing solutions for these holidays and focused on guacamole to drive consumption.

“We’ve done this by building partnership programs with other relevant brands that can help promote these guacamole eating occasions and extend AFM’s presence outside of produce,” Bazan said. “We’ve seen this pay off with our fall promotions campaign in October and our current shopper marketing campaign ... Make The Big Game Your Bowl Game.”

The campaign features point-of-sale material starring Aikman and Andrews that will hit stores in the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl. Shoppers can scan QR codes on the in-store assets to receive an autographed digital photo of the celebrities, and they can enter a sweepstakes for the chance to win up to $1 million.

“The QR code also provides shoppers with a virtual Guac Bowl Stadium experience, where consumers can access the sweepstakes, receive personalized messages from Aikman and Andrews, loyalty offers, gameday recipes and educational content,” Bazan said.

Aaron Acosta, corporate relationship manager for the Texas division of Capistrano Beach, Calif.-based Stonehill Produce, expressed confidence in the AFM plan.

“Avocados from Mexico has an amazing plan of action leading up to the big game,” Acosta said. “Even with the absence of the always anticipated AFM Super Bowl commercial, they have covered all their bases this year ... The AFM campaign is brilliant and supported by a strategically precise and extremely well executed digital marketing plan.”

In many ways, the approach for avocado marketers is similar to previous years, even though 2020 has been anything but normal.

“There’s still a lot of energy surrounding the big day,” said Joe Nava, vice president of sales and business development for Murrieta, Calif.-based West Pak Avocado. “We wanted to maintain that positive appeal with the visuals and general messaging for point of purchase and other retail support. What is different this time around is that we are supporting smaller gatherings but still offering the grab-and-go convenience with our assortment of bagged avocado brands.”

Jay Alley, vice president of Rhome, Texas-based Fresh Innovations, also noted convenience as a key facet of marketing around Super Bowl LV.

“As we continue to gain distribution across the country, we are working with retailers to showcase Yo Quiero’s guacamole, salsa and queso as the ultimate dip destination within their departments,” Alley said. “Consumers won’t have to walk the store to find their big game staples; they are all together in one spot.”

Denise Junqueiro, senior director of marketing and communication for Oxnard, Calif.-based Mission Produce, noted that while in-store presentation of avocados remains critical for capturing as many sales as possible, the digital marketplace also requires a purposeful approach.

“I think people are going to have to pay attention to click-and-collect,” Junqueiro said. “I think the strategy needs to adjust a little bit to that because people aren’t going to be in the store, so of course you still want to have a really nice display and you want them to be front and center so people are grabbing them, but you want to make sure that you’re hitting all of those consumers.

“Consumers have started to gravitate toward (digital),” Junqueiro said. “They’re using platforms, whether it’s Instagram or whether their retailer has a delivery service or a drive-up service, they’re choosing to use that more and more, and so I think that we have to pay attention to that and we have to make sure that we’re getting on the list. So I think that’s going to be a difference for us.”