In January, the Hass Avocado Board publicized some positive avocado nutrition research concerning avocado consumption and its beneficial impact on the amount of good vs. bad cholesterol in the bloodstream.

“It was our most successful PR campaign,” said Emiliano Escobedo, executive director of the industrywide commodity group. “The pickup (of the story) by the media resulted in 700 million impressions.”

That in a nutshell represents HAB’s mission over the last several years. The avocado commodity groups representing specific points of origin such as the California Avocado Commission and Avocados from Mexico spend a great deal of their promotional dollars touting avocados at point of sale either through advertising or merchandising efforts.

HAB is more of a behind-the-scenes organization. It is the umbrella group that collects the mandatory assessment from the importers and handlers and then parcels out the lion’s share of that money back to the individual groups for their promotional activities. HAB spends its share of the funds on research — mostly nutritional research on the positive attributes of avocados and market research illuminating best retail practices.

Emiliano EscobedoOn the nutrition research level, HAB has funded a handful of studies and received very positive results. Consumption of avocados has proven to have positive impact in a number of areas including cardiovascular health, reducing obesity, increasing satiety and reducing inflammation. The research results in January were first published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. They reported on a Pennsylvania State University study showing that eating one avocado per day was a natural way to reduce LDL cholesterol levels for people who are overweight.

Escobedo said the story was picked up by every major national nightly newscast as well as all of the national morning shows the next day. “It shows how relevant avocados have become in mainstream America,” he added.

Escobedo noted that with year-round consumption at a very high level, avocados are a staple item and positive research gets good press. In 2014, he said HAB publicized results from four different health studies. Pickup of those stories was good, resulting in a total 445 million impressions for the four studies. He called the 700 million impressions within a few days “phenomenal.”

Next up is research from Tufts University gauging the positive impact avocado consumption has on cognitive abilities in older people. A positive result might also generate a huge number of news stories in mainstream media considering the aging of the baby boomer generation and its concern about dementia and other related diseases.

On the market research side, Escobedo told The Produce News in mid-March that the board was about to issue a press release on recent research examining the impact of retail ads on avocado sales. He said the study looked at many different factors including the verbiage in the ad as well as the offer itself. “Does it make a difference if you offer ‘large’ avocados in the ad or just say ‘3 for $3’?” he said.

Escobedo said the market research was very specific and it should give retailers a blueprint of the best advertising techniques.

Like all of the research it does, this market research is posted on the HAB website (www.hassavocdoboard.com). HAB generally issues a press release highlighting some of the interesting points in its various research reports, but the entire reports for a thorough examination are available for perusal by anyone in the industry who might find them helpful.

Though HAB does very little promoting at point of sale, it does promote the use of its tagline “Love One Today” on industry cartons and consumer bags and other containers. Escobedo said many different handlers use the verbiage, which represents a not-so-subtle message that avocados are worthy of the consumer’s love.