Fall is here and pumpkin spice is in the air (and just about every food you can think of, too). The staff at the California Walnut Board is mindful of the current market conditions and have modified some domestic marketing activities to create demand earlier in the crop year. Following is an update of key planned activities.
National Advertising
Additional media placements on major cable networks will increase the number of TV spots running in November and December to keep awareness high during the fall. Increased advertising has been shown to amplify other marketing efforts as well.
We placed a full page ad in the Costco Connection in September and a half page recipe focused ad in the November issue as well as an additional placement in Food Network’s September birthday issue. We have also received some great added value in the form of on-air mentions from Rachael Ray, and an upcoming episode of Hallmark’s Home & Family show to air the week before Christmas. Specific air-dates will follow as we receive them.
On the digital front, we are working with several different partners to increase awareness and purchase intent. Once again we will work with several online digital platforms to create videos that showcase how easy it is to cooks with walnuts, the first to be released in November. Beyond recipe videos, we are working with Ad Adapted, a shopping list app which delivers targeted ads prompting consumers to add walnuts to their shopping list. And iBotta, which offers a small discount on walnuts after the consumer watches a targeted recipe video. All of this is in addition to our other digital program elements including display banner ads, video pre-roll, e-newsletter ad placements, magazine website integrations, and search engine keywords. These will deliver a total of 534 million impressions, or the average millennial (who is our number one target in the digital space) seeing our digital ads an average of 7 times.
Golden Walnut Sweepstakes
To drive consumer enthusiasm around holiday purchases of walnuts, we are launching a Golden Walnut Sweepstakes. This is a new, nationwide digital contest which offers consumers a chance to win cash prizes by simply entering a receipt photo showing a purchase of California walnuts from any U.S. retailer between November 15 and December 31, 2018. One entrant will win the “Golden Walnut” grand prize of $5,000, while 100 others will win $100 each. This contest will be promoted through digital media that will utilize beacon technology to reach consumers in proximity to the store. Social media will be a key tool in building awareness and excitement around the sweepstakes. Sweepstakes assets are available to handlers who wish to promote the campaign.
Retail Promotions
While a significant part of our effort is concentrated around American Heart Month in February, we are able to conduct a few activities this fall:
- The CWB placed a half page ad in the Costco Connection for November and are also featured in “Tasteful Gathering” with a cookie recipe using California walnuts.
- We are partnering with Chelan Fresh on demos at 150 Walmart locations during December 6-9, serving up samples of our AHA-certified Waldorf salad made with Chelan Fresh’s proprietary Sugarbee® apples.
- Jewel, with 187 stores across Chicagoland, Indiana and Iowa, will have their associates in the produce department wearing one-of-a-kind t-shirts promoting California walnuts during the week beginning November 5. Jewel will feature California walnuts in their circular ad during this week and displaying walnuts in their produce sections.
Additionally, Chobani has expressed interest in partnering with California walnuts at their top 20 priority customers in 2019. We are working with Chobani now to identify the most promising opportunities and then develop and sell-in joint promotions to these selected retailers.
We are also in talks with Produce for Better Health to identify a retailer(s) and produce partner(s) for a larger produce promotion as a next step following the successful pilot programs this summer. Additional details will follow.
These key initiatives are part of our broader domestic marketing program that also employs public relations to consumers and health professional.
