National Mango Promotion Board up and running
National Mango Promotion Board up and running
The U.S. mango industry has been collecting assessments on imported mangos for the past 14 months and the National Mango Promotion Board is poised to begin promoting the product.
"By the end of March, we will have run some trade ads and begun some promotional programs in the industry," said William Watson, executive director of the board.
Mr. Watson was hired in June of last year, soon after the appointed members of the board met for the first time at their organizational meeting in Washington, DC. The former watermelon commodity board executive was charged with pulling together the initial stages of the program. Eventually, Mr. Watson was offered and accepted the position of being the board's first chief executive officer.
"We have put together a staff and are shaking the trees, so to speak, trying to understand what the perception [in the produce industry] is of mangos and the mango board." He said that the board has hired a "virtual staff," assembling experts in different parts of the country including a merchandising staff as well as public relations and promotions experts. Meeting via telephone or the Internet, the group has begun the process of introducing the mango board to retailers, wholesalers and foodservice operators across the United States. At the same time, a public relations effort has begun to introduce more U.S. consumers to the world's most popular fruit.
With the board's annual budget of $2.5 million, Mr. Watson said that the mango industry has enough funds to make a difference. "I've never met a commodity board that didn't want more money," he said. "But with that said, [the effort to form the National Mango Promotion Board] took a tremendous amount of cooperation and we have a significant budget. We are going to get the best return on our investment, and I think we are going to be able to hit a homerun."
It is Mr. Watson's contention that the mango is a tremendous piece of fruit, and just "scratching the surface" of promotion will make a big difference. He said that the board is realistic enough to know that it will take time to realize the board's promotional effects, but he also believes that mangos are uniquely positioned to make a big leap forward almost immediately. The mango is loved worldwide, yet only about one-third of U.S. households purchase the product at all. Obviously, there is a lot of room for growth. The National Mango Promotion Board, as well as Mr. Watson and U.S. importers, believe there is great opportunity for the industry.
Mr. Watson called the program and the board itself "the commodity board of the future" because of its international flavor. While it is a U.S. promotion program, virtually the entire crop is grown on foreign soil. The 18-member board reflects this anomaly, with seven members of the board residing in Ecuador, Mexico or Peru. Mr. Watson said that every board meeting requires conference calling to various locations as well as a number of interpreters.
But this multi-national aspect of the board is creating a bevy of new and interesting ideas. "Each board member brings a different component to the table," he said. "Not only do they represent different factions of the industry, but there are also cultural differences and different languages."
What they all have in common is that they are involved in the shipping, importing or selling of mangos into the United States, and they firmly believe that promotion will increase sales and ultimately the financial health of the industry.
Mr. Watson said that since January, the board's merchandising team has made calls to retailers, wholesalers and foodservice companies familiarizing people with the board and with mangos. "We've realized that there are some companies that do not know we exist."
Before a grand marketing campaign can be established, Mr. Watson said that the foundation must be laid. However, the month of March will see the beginning of some trade advertising alerting the industry to the efforts of the board and merchandisers. He said that the promotional program will target both the trade and consumers, and that the board is also going to fund research on the nutritional content of mangos. While it is a very popular fruit and producers intuitively know they have a healthy story to tell, that story has yet to be quantified.
The program is truly at its infant stage, and the industry knows it has to start crawling before it can walk, but Mr. Watson believes it will be running in the not-so-distant future. In fact, he predicted that by the end of 2006, the National Mango Promotion Board and its programs will already have made a measurable difference.
Board member Larry Nienkerk of Splendid Products LLC in Burlingame, CA, said that the board "is working hard and proceeding in a way to develop promotional themes and programs that can be used by all districts and all varieties."
Being a multi-national board representing products from many different regions, he said that it is incumbent upon the board to make sure that all the districts participate on an equal basis. "We are proceeding with great fiduciary care and are just trying to do it right."
As a brand new board, the members have the advantage of being able to study how other commodity boards have operated to adopt and discard things that work and things that do not. "We have a meeting in a few days where we are going to be looking at different promotion plans and recipes and themes and try to pick what works."
Mr. Nienkerk said that the board has organized itself into committees, such as the industry relations committee and the promotion committee, in an effort to better manage the many components of the new commodity promotion program. He is not quite as ambitious as Mr. Watson is in his expectations for the board's results, however. "We understand it will take a couple of years to see a real impact, but we know that we have to get going immediately to show the trade that we are hard at work and developing an advertising and promotion campaign."
Mr. Nienkerk said that the board is already working with retailers and filling data gaps about mangos that may exist. He said that the education component of the program -- for both consumers and retailers -- is very important and is already underway. Retailers are very receptive to receiving more information about the various production areas as well as their timing and the varieties they ship, he added. "The Peruvians [who currently have fruit in the marketplace] are the first beneficiaries of this program, but everyone is going to benefit."
(For more on the Mexican mango deal, see the March 13 issue of The Produce News.)
"By the end of March, we will have run some trade ads and begun some promotional programs in the industry," said William Watson, executive director of the board.
Mr. Watson was hired in June of last year, soon after the appointed members of the board met for the first time at their organizational meeting in Washington, DC. The former watermelon commodity board executive was charged with pulling together the initial stages of the program. Eventually, Mr. Watson was offered and accepted the position of being the board's first chief executive officer.
"We have put together a staff and are shaking the trees, so to speak, trying to understand what the perception [in the produce industry] is of mangos and the mango board." He said that the board has hired a "virtual staff," assembling experts in different parts of the country including a merchandising staff as well as public relations and promotions experts. Meeting via telephone or the Internet, the group has begun the process of introducing the mango board to retailers, wholesalers and foodservice operators across the United States. At the same time, a public relations effort has begun to introduce more U.S. consumers to the world's most popular fruit.
With the board's annual budget of $2.5 million, Mr. Watson said that the mango industry has enough funds to make a difference. "I've never met a commodity board that didn't want more money," he said. "But with that said, [the effort to form the National Mango Promotion Board] took a tremendous amount of cooperation and we have a significant budget. We are going to get the best return on our investment, and I think we are going to be able to hit a homerun."
It is Mr. Watson's contention that the mango is a tremendous piece of fruit, and just "scratching the surface" of promotion will make a big difference. He said that the board is realistic enough to know that it will take time to realize the board's promotional effects, but he also believes that mangos are uniquely positioned to make a big leap forward almost immediately. The mango is loved worldwide, yet only about one-third of U.S. households purchase the product at all. Obviously, there is a lot of room for growth. The National Mango Promotion Board, as well as Mr. Watson and U.S. importers, believe there is great opportunity for the industry.
Mr. Watson called the program and the board itself "the commodity board of the future" because of its international flavor. While it is a U.S. promotion program, virtually the entire crop is grown on foreign soil. The 18-member board reflects this anomaly, with seven members of the board residing in Ecuador, Mexico or Peru. Mr. Watson said that every board meeting requires conference calling to various locations as well as a number of interpreters.
But this multi-national aspect of the board is creating a bevy of new and interesting ideas. "Each board member brings a different component to the table," he said. "Not only do they represent different factions of the industry, but there are also cultural differences and different languages."
What they all have in common is that they are involved in the shipping, importing or selling of mangos into the United States, and they firmly believe that promotion will increase sales and ultimately the financial health of the industry.
Mr. Watson said that since January, the board's merchandising team has made calls to retailers, wholesalers and foodservice companies familiarizing people with the board and with mangos. "We've realized that there are some companies that do not know we exist."
Before a grand marketing campaign can be established, Mr. Watson said that the foundation must be laid. However, the month of March will see the beginning of some trade advertising alerting the industry to the efforts of the board and merchandisers. He said that the promotional program will target both the trade and consumers, and that the board is also going to fund research on the nutritional content of mangos. While it is a very popular fruit and producers intuitively know they have a healthy story to tell, that story has yet to be quantified.
The program is truly at its infant stage, and the industry knows it has to start crawling before it can walk, but Mr. Watson believes it will be running in the not-so-distant future. In fact, he predicted that by the end of 2006, the National Mango Promotion Board and its programs will already have made a measurable difference.
Board member Larry Nienkerk of Splendid Products LLC in Burlingame, CA, said that the board "is working hard and proceeding in a way to develop promotional themes and programs that can be used by all districts and all varieties."
Being a multi-national board representing products from many different regions, he said that it is incumbent upon the board to make sure that all the districts participate on an equal basis. "We are proceeding with great fiduciary care and are just trying to do it right."
As a brand new board, the members have the advantage of being able to study how other commodity boards have operated to adopt and discard things that work and things that do not. "We have a meeting in a few days where we are going to be looking at different promotion plans and recipes and themes and try to pick what works."
Mr. Nienkerk said that the board has organized itself into committees, such as the industry relations committee and the promotion committee, in an effort to better manage the many components of the new commodity promotion program. He is not quite as ambitious as Mr. Watson is in his expectations for the board's results, however. "We understand it will take a couple of years to see a real impact, but we know that we have to get going immediately to show the trade that we are hard at work and developing an advertising and promotion campaign."
Mr. Nienkerk said that the board is already working with retailers and filling data gaps about mangos that may exist. He said that the education component of the program -- for both consumers and retailers -- is very important and is already underway. Retailers are very receptive to receiving more information about the various production areas as well as their timing and the varieties they ship, he added. "The Peruvians [who currently have fruit in the marketplace] are the first beneficiaries of this program, but everyone is going to benefit."
(For more on the Mexican mango deal, see the March 13 issue of The Produce News.)
