Up until now, California walnuts’ advertising has focused on functional benefits – versatility as an ingredient, simplicity of use and heart-healthy* benefits. The new “Life Isn’t Always Simple” campaign builds on these strengths, while also encouraging consumers to shift how they think and feel about walnuts. The new campaign appeals to consumers on a more emotional level, portraying walnuts in a fresh, relatable and engaging light.
National marketing efforts have proven effective at growing awareness and driving the purchase intent of California walnuts. TV, Print and Digital ads will be seen an average of 32 times by 97% of adults over 18 from October 2019 through August 2020. Collectively, U.S. consumers will be exposed to California Walnuts messaging 3.7 billion times.
When our TV campaign is on the air, visits to the California walnuts website jump an incredible 500% or more! Our newly launched consumer campaign tested very highly with consumers, with 78% saying they would be more likely to purchase after seeing the ad. Research showed that our consumers are seeking simple solutions to make life easier and more manageable. The new spots feature humorous vignettes illustrating that modern life isn’t always easy. This effort will be supported by an unprecedented investment at retail, to remind consumers to add California walnuts to their shopping cart.
Our integrated marketing plan reaches consumers across key touch points along their path to purchase including strategic initiatives with retail, foodservice and industrial, health professionals and wellness influencers.
Following a highly successful test market in 2019, we are supporting American Heart Month in up to 30 markets in February 2020. Major national and regional retailers will have POP displays of California walnuts and conduct tastings of heart-healthy recipes. TV spots tagged with participating retailers, plus digital and social media support, will encourage consumers to purchase California walnuts throughout the month. Retail promotions with partners like Quaker and Chobani will continue all year.
Marketing programs supported by health research will continue to reach health professionals, encouraging them to recommend walnuts as part of a healthy and balanced diet.
Expanded digital efforts feature more video and content designed to deliver relevant and timely messaging to consumers while shopping, meal planning/prepping, and searching for recipes online. In 2020, California walnuts will introduce shoppable recipe functionality to the website, to make shopping and meal planning/prepping while on the go even easier for consumers.
Website and social media campaigns will distribute hundreds of recipes and reach more than 2 million consumers each month, providing powerful marketing of the health benefits, convenience, versatility and value of California walnuts. That’s why more people than ever are buying them.
Far reaching public relations activities emphasize our distinctive health message, and trigger repeated mentions in domestic media from TV to print to web and more!
From September 2018 to August 2019, U.S. consumers were exposed to more than 8 billion walnut messages throughout the PR campaign, with 3 Billion of those messages related to health benefits.
