Chock full of new learnings and more personalized experiences, the 2017 United Fresh Produce Show is one we will not soon forget.  The conference and the show produced opportunities for marketers to showcase their products, learn about trends changing consumption and celebrate excellence in our industry.  On a personal note, we have to take a moment to share our pride for our very own Megan Zweig who graduated from the Produce Industry Leadership Program with Class 22. The program only selects one representative from a service provider to participate each year, and we are incredibly humbled and honored by Megan’s selection and representation of DMA Solutions in this class.

Read on to learn more about Class 22’s contribution to our industry along with all the happenings on the tradeshow floor that blew us away in Chicago!

OUTSTANDING BOOTH ENGAGEMENT

We couldn’t help but notice a design theme across the show floor this year: white, clean and simple booths dominated. However, the booths that included textures and interesting graphic design elements outside that trend stood out to us the most. 

In-booth Video Play

Video was a huge trend across all booths this year, and Mastronardi Produce did not disappoint in this category. Their impressively large booth displayed several screens that constantly streamed videos demonstrating recipes, giving tours of their greenhouse facilities, showcasing new products and more. Their constant stream of content captured the attention of attendees long enough for them to get a whiff of celebrity chef, Roger Mooking’s, latest creation. Mastronardi chose to go against the grain with their colorful displays and vibrant graphics, which helped them stand out among other fresh produce brands on the crowded show floor.

Sampling that Works Year After Year

For those of you who have walked a tradeshow floor, you know that sample dishes are sometimes your only meal of the day. Wholly Guacamole racked up a consistently long line both days of the expo for their guacamole hot dogs.  A tried and true traffic driver for them, Wholly Guacamole’s sampling strategy provides a way for crowds to sample their delicious guacamole flavors, while hearing all about their new products. Their booth itself also stood out with its high-definition graphics and unique product display.

PRODUCT OWNING THE SHOW FLOOR

This year, we saw an interesting trend in the types of companies that were expanding their show presence and leading in product innovation.  From living greens and greenhouse items to the newest generation of value-added vegetables, were are definitely seeing a new crop of exhibitors start to dominate the show floor.

Living Greens Stand Out

Walking the show floor, you may have noticed that living greens are hot and in demand. Pete’s Living Greens is a pioneer in the living greens space, and their booth displayed an impressive wall of living greens that gave their space a fresh, green and innovative look. While their luscious leafy display drew passersby into the booth, they were enticed to hang around with informative demonstrations about their brand new products and packaging.

Greenhouse Growers Are Stepping Up Their Game

While we’ve experienced a strong showing of greenhouse growers across show aisles in previous years, we couldn’t help but observe that these companies had their strongest presence yet. Greenhouse Growers are among the fresh produce companies that are beginning to behave more like brands vs. commodities, and their highly creative, striking product displays along the show floor proves that.

Veggie Noodles for the Win

This new craze in value-added veggies is taking the produce department by storm and the expo floor reflected this same growth in popularity.  Companies like Renaissance Food Group, Green Giant Fresh and of course, Veggie Noodles, offered a variety of savory samples with clever applications that are sure to delight consumers.

TECHNOLOGY TAKES OVER

Cutting-edge technology companies took up a third of the show floor at this year’s expo which gave us the opportunity to see the newest advancements and innovations that are disrupting the produce industry. From robots, to preservation technology,  produce-cutting equipment and more, it is evident that the future of the produce industry has arrived.

Favorite New Tech Companies

One of our favorite new companies is Hazel Technologies – a two-year-old tech company out of Chicago that was started by five students from Northwestern. The company’s product, Hazel Melon, is a small packet that is inserted into any box of fruit and slowly releases a preserving chemical that keeps melon, stonefruit, and tropicals from spoiling as quickly as they normally would in transport. 

Another up-and-coming company that we’ve got our eye on is FreshTech CRM, a customized fresh produce sales software that gives sales teams the opportunity to create dashboards and integrate market updates, customer notes, and sales data in one place.

Food Waste and Sustainability

Today, consumer interest in food waste and sustainable business practices is at an all-time high, and the fresh produce industry is capitalizing on this mindset. Gotham Green’s, an urban agriculture company that grows leafy greens and culinary herbs on rooftop greenhouses in New York and Chicago, is one of those companies. Their line of “Ugly Greens” joins the fight against food waste, putting not-so-perfect but still great-tasting greens in a branded packaging to be sold at retail for about $1 less than their higher grade counterparts. Not only is this solution minimizing the amount of shrink at the production level, but is also creating affordable options for shoppers to consume more fresh produce.
 

Technology Replacing Hard Labor

As the demand for fruits and vegetables increases, farming production must keep up, and that means more field labor is needed. Award-winning Australian-based tech company, ScanTech, has developed an efficient solution to meet those labor needs with robotics. Instead of production being solely dependent on humans in the field picking fruits and veggies, workers can sit an office desk, controlling a robot in the field via touch screen. Check out this video of the technology in action!

EDUCATIONAL TAKEAWAYS

Our team took advantage of the new and informative educational sessions throughout the duration of the expo. We were especially delighted in the FreshMKT Conference sessions and took away several key points and opportunities we can use to elevate our marketing efforts with our clients. Here’s what we learned:

Measurable Marketing is the Key to More Marketing Dollars

It’s no surprise to us that fresh produce marketers struggle with their budget – it’s the number one marketing concern that you, our Core readers, have voiced over the years. That’s why we were excited to hear from many produce marketers that you know it’s a struggle, but you recognize that there is a solution: the ability to better measure your activities and results. These measurable results must come with a great deal of thought, strategy and planning, as well as an investment in next level analytics providers that can go beyond a Google Analytics or Constant Contact type platform.
 

Looking Beyond Generations by Age

Janneke van Geurs from Google and keynote speaker Doug Rauch emphasized the need to create target audiences based on different criteria than just age. Janneke suggested using dynamic segmentation – loyalists, agnostics, pure competitors, and people who don’t know your product – to be the focus of many study groups before simply blanket targeting Millennials. Doug echoed that values are a unique set of distinguishers that help us identify groups of people and include aspirationalists, advocates, and practicals. Similar to the way we segment audiences through permission-based marketing, brands should be able to speak to the ultra-engaged, all the way to the people who just want to know how to feed their kids in the morning.
 

Consumer Trends from Experts

Some of the data from both Google and iBotta suggested that people are most often looking for content that speaks to saving and storing fresh produce. Janneke went on to share that some of the most common searches, regardless of generation, are things like “how to cook an egg” – an excellent reminder that we’re not always speaking to a “foodie” and need to have a variety of content that speaks to various ages, cooking experience, and dietary habits. Susan Westmoreland, Food Director at Good Housekeeping, reminded the industry that her readers want to know not only how to experience food differently, but what they can do to waste less of it. Any time the industry can share tips on food waste-avoidance, we’re doing our shoppers and her readers a service.

We Still Have Work to Do

During the Generation Z FreshMKT panel, it was clear that young consumers still haven’t developed brand preferences with fresh produce products. Not only that, but these consumers also still struggle with understanding how food is grown and what we do as an industry, which means the need for fresh food education on a level that will reach digital savvy consumers is bigger than ever. We also enjoyed hearing from 2017 Woman in Produce honoree Lorelei DiSogra, about her contributions to increase fresh produce consumption. One thing that Lorelei emphasized was that really, we are still having conversations about the importance of fresh produce in school nutrition programs – a clear indication that our work as an industry is far from over.

BIG NEWS FROM UNITED

We love seeing new efforts unfold that help get fresh produce in the hands of more people, so we’ve saved the best for last in our What Blew Us Away post. We were very inspired when Megan Zweig announced during Class 22’s graduation from the Produce Industry Leadership Program  that the class worked collectively to raise more than $25,000 toward the United Fresh Start Foundation’s new Community Grants Program. The program will fund ten non-profit organizations who share the common focus of giving kids access to fresh produce.  As a company that’s deeply committed to increasing consumption, we can’t wait to be a part of the continued success of this exciting new program.

We were also interested in hearing about next year’s plan to expand the show with the announcement of the Smartfoods Expo 2018, the industry’s first ever collaboration with natural food brands from all aisles of the grocery store.  United Fresh says it plans to elevate the importance of fresh produce to this highly relevant audience.  We have mixed opinions on what this means for marketers in terms of collaboration with these new exhibitors, but will continue to evaluate as more details become available.

Our team here at The Core blog and DMA Solutions will continue to encourage the industry and our fellow marketers to hold ourselves to a higher standard, and we hope you will help us do the same. See you in Chicago next June!