We’re always making note of innovative marketing strategies developed to help inspire consumption of FRESH. 2017 netted a variety of great marketing campaigns designed to build awareness of and engagement with fresh produce brands. All a little unique in their own way, each brand we’ve highlighted below leveraged digital mediums and online influencers to deliver content and prize winning opportunities to shoppers. Here’s a look back at a few notable campaigns.
Avocados from Mexico took influencer marketing to a new level with their 2017 Super Bowl Campaign. The interactive #AvoSecrets campaign featured a microsite that looked like a mobile phone screen with 16 apps including Avo Recipes, Spotify, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube – each providing a different user experience. Some of the fun brand engagement included a special Instagram filter as well as a chance to win a trip to Spain or French Polynesia through a hashtag entry on Twitter.
Also unique this year was the brand’s ambassador program that included 100,000 shoppers identified through demographic targeting on Facebook and Twitter. In return for sharing branded content, these ambassadors earn points for the chance to win awards.
Download this beautiful FREE Avo recipe e-book. #AvoebookSweepstakes #AvoSecrets – https://t.co/D7SY5ukXJy pic.twitter.com/WT9amYbNOh
— Amanda (@Amanda_w_6) December 9, 2017
California Giant Berry Farms
During the busy back-to-school season, one demographic is often overlooked and untapped by fresh produce marketers: college students. 
California Giant’s “Back to School: College Edition Sweepstakes” served this untended demographic with an eBook filled with dorm room friendly and budget friendly healthy recipes, along with a chance to win $800 in Visa gift cards to start the semester off right.
By deviating from the traditional back-to-school promotion, the brand connected with a key demographic whose purchasing power continues to grow. The promotion achieved over 1.1 million impressions and more than 120,000 submissions to the sweepstakes in a six week period. The promotion’s success is further showcased in the recipe eBook’s 20,000+ downloads.
Del Monte Go Bananas Halloween Costume Giveaway
For six years running, Del Monte has hosted their “Go Bananas!” Halloween promotion to advocate for bananas being a healthy alternative to Halloween candy. This year, the brand gave away 1,125 banana costumes to random winners who entered online and promoted a series of witty, historic “Go Bananas!” videos across its social media platforms. In 2016, the promotion received more than 140,000 entries and millions of impressions throughout the month of September.
Ocean Mist Farms 
To promote the kickoff of their spring artichoke season, Ocean Mist Farms’ “Heartichoke Getaway Sweepstakes” ran February 14 – March 31 and provided shoppers an opportunity to win a trip for two to the Castroville Artichoke Food & Wine Festival to enjoy a weekend filled with food, art, entertainment, cooking demos, beer & wine tasting, field tours and more!
Leveraging influencer partnerships and their social media communities, the brand earned over a half million impressions, more than 12,500 new contacts in their consumer database and over 6,600 downloads of their Appetizer Recipe eBook.
Summer Citrus from South Africa 
Summer Citrus from South Africa ran their 2017 consumer marketing campaign, “Swing into Summer Sweepstakes”, from May – September with a mission to maximize brand awareness leading up to and during peak-season availability in the US. Phase one of the campaign offered consumers the opportunity to enter to win 1 of 10 summer prize packs consisting of popular, on-trend items such as a Bose Bluetooth speaker, Vera Bradley tote, striped hammock chair, Turkish beach blanket, and a fruit-infuser water bottle. One lucky winner also won a $250 Ray-Ban gift card!
Phase 2 of the sweepstakes utilized partnerships with key influencers to leverage their expanded reach and have them share content and recipes featuring SCSA navel oranges – the finest of the season! Through both phases of the campaign, SCSA was able to achieve nearly 12,000 unique consumer entries, nearly 2/3rds of which were new to the brand.
West Pak launched their six week #IHeartAvos digital campaign in October to highlight heart-healthy facts about avocados and provide consumers, food bloggers, and the avo-obsessed with the opportunity to receive healthy recipes and product information. Shoppers were also invited to participate in a fun giveaway by sharing a healthy avocado recipe with the hashtag #IHeartAvos on Instagram for a chance to win.
Winter Sweetz A-Zing! 
In an effort to encourage people to eat Texas Red grapefruit during the best season of the year, Winter Sweetz promoted it’s “A to Zing! Sweepstakes” to show the versatility of grapefruit in any eating occasion during the winter season. For 26 days straight, the brand promoted social media posts and leveraged influencer support to create a recipe per day that tied directly to each letter in the alphabet.
Winter Sweetz earned over 600,000 brand impressions and more than 5,000 new contacts in their consumer database.
Wonderful Pistachios did an awesome job turning their Superbowl commercial with Ernie the Elephant into an interactive campaign on their website that lasted 5 months. http://helpernie.com/ was a game-like experience that allowed shoppers to interact with the brand to earn entries for weekly prizes. They gave away tickets to Coachella, Airbnb gift certificates, and more – all things that Millennials highly value. The grand prize winner, announced in July, was awarded a 2017 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon Hard Rock.
I am running out of places to look – help me with one more chapter and I’ll give you another entry to win my ride. https://t.co/J2QtViuGQn
— ErnieTheElephant (@ElephantErnie) June 28, 2017
Zespri’s “Celebrate the SunGold”
To support growth of their SunGold variety in year two of sales, Zespri launched their SunGold Trade Campaign and “Celebrate the SunGold” Consumer Campaign this past spring. Zespri’s trade campaign was brought to life through ad in a variety of print and digital trade publications, while consumer messaging was delivered to target markets via billboard advertising and social and digital elements.
Did any of these campaigns stick out in your mind too or serve as inspiration for your brand’s marketing strategy? We’d love to hear what other campaigns are top of mind for you – there’s definitely more out there! And kudos to all the marketing leaders out there who had a hand in these campaigns. Collectively, we are making a difference.
