The National Mango Board’s very successful “Mangover” campaign made a significant and positive impact among consumers and media in 2013, so the board is capitalizing on that success and expanding the program this year.

According to the NMB’s 2013 Consumer Marketing Program Tracker, more than 1.7 billion mango impressions were delivered in 2013, largely because of the Mangover program initiatives.

This year’s Mangover program has some new recipe ideas, concepts and partnerships. The NMB has also expanded several other existing programs in an effort to reach more retailers, foodservice professionals and industry members in 2014. The mango promotional programs kicked off the year with a tie-in promotion in February with the release of Disney’s The Jungle Book: Diamond Edition 2-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack. This program includes several social media contests, sweepstakes and parties that feature fun Mangover snacks and recipes inspired by the movie.

Sharing recipes and ideas tied into various eating occasions is one of the main themes of the Mangover promotion. Special releases have been developed to coincide with many holidays including Mother’s Day, Fourth of July and New Year’s Eve. Among the recipes included are Mango Crepes, Mango Breakfast Crisp, and Mango cocktails.

One of the most successful retail-merchandising programs in 2013 was the development and dissemination of a mango bin that included care and handling instructions. Megan Mckenna, NMB’s director of marketing, said that in 2013, the board offered high-graphic educational mango bins to retailers for the first time.  “We had more than 6,000 stores across the country receive the bins and those that did saw mango volume increase more than 40 percent when stores displayed mangos in our bins.  This year we will offer bins to our retail partners as we did last year for in-store usage starting in June and July.  We encourage our retail partners to keep them up as long as possible.”

On a pilot program basis, the board is also exploring new ways to distribute the bin to smaller retailers by also offering 1,000 bins to the mango industry on a first come, first serve basis.  She said the 2014 bins will have updated graphics but the messaging will remain the same, which is information helping consumers select and cut a mango.  McKenna said market research has shown that unfamiliarity with how to choose the proper mango and then not knowing what to do with it at home remains the top barriers to purchase.

Another NMB promotional success receiving a bit of a tweak this year is the Mango Mania Display Contest. McKenna said it will look very similar to the past three years, except it will be open to all retailers in 2014.  Previously, the display contest was aimed at the smaller retailers with 50 stores or less. It has proven to be a great mover of mangos and so this year all retailers are invited to participate.   The display contest will still take place in July and offer cash prizes to the best mango displays.  More than $12,000 in cash prizes will be awarded to the stores that build the very best mango displays.

On the retail-training front, the NMB will unveil its brand new Mango University program, complete with videos, training, quizzes and prizes for produce associates who complete the program and earn their mango diploma. Professor Mango will be the wacky guide to the world of mango retailing.

“The NMB is dedicated to getting quality mangos to the U.S. consumer,” said McKenna.  “We take the opportunity to train retailers by posting an array of tools to mango.org/retail — crop information, POS, recipes and much more.” 

As a companion to Mango University, the NMB will also create the first ever Mango Retail Handling and Ripening Guide with best practices for handling, merchandising and ripening mangos to help retailers increase their mango sales. The guide will be featured during an NMB ripening webinar that will air on its website on April 24.

In addition to working with retailers, the NMB continues to encourage use of fresh mangos in foodservice. The board’s staff works directly with operators, chefs and foodservice media to increase mango consumption. This year, they will continue to work with the foodservice media by sharing news about fresh mangos and secure editorial placements, while also conducting chain promotions and pitching new ideas to distributors and operators.

In addition, for the first time this year there will be a Chef Recipe Mangover Contest. This contest will be open to commercial and non-commercial operators. Chefs across the country will be encouraged to experiment with fresh mangos and produce creative recipes.

NMB market research team is going to take a special look at the foodservice industry to determine how mangos are used by this sector. A Menu Trak Study conducted by the Foodservice Research Institute will track mangos as an ingredient or component of dishes. This study will help determine menu trends and target chains for promotion partnerships in the future.

In addition to all the above efforts, this year the NMB partnered with Frances Largemen-Roth for the launch of her new book, Eating in Color.  The NMB supported her book launch, which includes lots of mango recipes, by sponsoring a satellite media tour as well as her book launch party in New York City. McKenna said partnering with this food nutrition expert is a perfect fit for the board. “With the emergence of new mango nutrition research on the rise after years of investment, the NMB will be expanding our nutrition marketing.  All outreach includes messages about our superfruit characteristics but who better to tell that story than a registered dietician.”