Texas 1015 sweet onions double down on brand strategy

Harvest of the Texas 1015 sweet onions is well underway in South Texas and excellent quality and availability are expected to continue through early summer, according to the South Texas Onion Committee.

The Texas International Produce Association is busy promoting this year's crop of Texas 1015 sweet onions, with aid from a USDA Agricultural Marketing Service specialty crop block grant that is administered by the Texas Department of Agriculture. The grant will fund another marketing program this spring focusing on retailer and consumer brand awareness and sales of the Texas 1015 sweet onion, according to a news release.

“We’re excited we are able to dedicate additional funds to retailer-centric promotions that highlight the versatility and flavor of the state vegetable of Texas,” Dante Galeazzi, manager of the South Texas Onion Committee, said in the release. Galeazzi is also the CEO and president of TIPA.

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April marked the launch of the marketing campaign, which features print, digital, live and in-person promotions throughout the season. New initiatives this season include an extensive trade advertising program and greater in-store promotions.

To facilitate brand awareness about the original sweet onion, TIPA showcased the Texas 1015 season start at its annual Viva Fresh Expo with an informational virtual field tour.

Consumer-focused promotions in this year’s campaign are set to reach wider than previous years, according to the release. Shoppers should expect to see promotions such as sweepstakes and weekly giveaways, a food influencer recipe program and contest with resulting cookbook, a feature story by David Elder of Texas Eats and the TX1015 “Eat Sweet” restaurant week event hosted in the Rio Grande Valley.

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“This year’s robust campaign is already off to a fantastic start and we’re confident it will reach our audiences and leave an impact,” Galeazzi said in the release. “Many consumers are not aware that all U.S.-grown sweet onions were bred from the original TX1015 sweets and we’re on a mission to fix that.”