Florida Tomato Committee's ad campaign takes a great idea and turns it outstanding
Florida Tomato Committee's ad campaign takes a great idea and turns it outstanding
You simply cannot help but smile when you look at the ad posters, POPs or other campaign materials that the Florida Tomato Committee is using in its current national promotional campaign. The bright red tomato appears as the quintessential produce item with such delightful appeal that one is tempted to reach into the image, grab the ripe, juicy, red "love apple" and take a huge bite. And that is exactly the consumer reaction the committee had anticipated.
The campaign began Jan. 30 with 15-second national cable television ads featuring Florida tomatoes. The venues included the Food Network, HGTV, Discovery Health, Discovery Home and Do It Yourself. The first segment, or "winter" portion of the program, ran through Feb. 26. Following a two-week break, the spring campaign began on March 13 and ran through April 9. In full, the commercials aired 595 times, and were expected to reach 36 million viewers.
"We are extremely pleased with the results so far," said Samantha Winters, director of education and promotion for the committee.
"The campaign spurred a great deal of excitement and attention," she said. "It has been written about in trade and consumer publications, including The Wall Street Journal, TV Guide -- which has a circulation of 9 million - - and others. National Public Radio played our entire commercial twice -- and for free -- because they were intrigued with the campaign."
The residual effects of the campaign are expected to continue throughout the season, and will be enhanced by the cross-promotion portion of the program. It includes POP materials for packers, distributors and retailers, making it a win-win for everyone.
The POP materials show the same "pin-up" tomato with an underline statement that reads, "What salads crave and sandwiches dream of."
The idea for the promotional project began over a year ago when a group of Florida tomato growers and officials from the committee were facing a difficult time because of the damage and destruction caused by the active 2004 hurricane season. A chain of events ensued throughout the season, ultimately resulting in an overabundance of tomatoes that were not moving through the system as quickly as they should have.
The Florida Tomato Committee hired the SenaReider advertising agency in Monterey, CA, to create the ads. The company has a substantial list of food industry clients in the fresh produce industry. Ms. Winters said that the firm was chosen because of its track record in other work it has done with the committee, and its known "out-of-the- envelope" creativity.
While the ad agency handled the commercials, and the committee took on the task of informing repackers and providing them with information and materials to keep the campaign rolling strong.
"This aspect of the campaign includes alerts, sales sheets and other materials to keep them informed," said Ms. Winters. "The campaign provided a good platform for enhancing our repacker relationships, and to prepare them with an effective response when they are approached about Florida tomatoes by their customers. Their responses have been outstanding. Numerous repackers have signed on to use the label, and many have reported that retailers have contacted them wanting to tie into the campaign. Many of these are in areas where we haven't been able to infiltrate in the past. POPs will continue to be available, and we invite repackers and others to contact us at any time in the future."
A campaign with the high level of results that this one has already shown is an expensive proposition. Ms. Winters said that the committee has not yet decided if it will be continued next year.
"We want to prove the campaign's success through data analysis with retailers so we can accurately assess the impact it has had before we make a decision," she said. "If we do continue it into next season, we may do some fine tuning. But it has been so successful the way it is that any changes would be minimal."
If it isn't broken, don't fix it, so the saying goes. And this "hot tomato" isn't so much as slightly bruised
(For more on the Florida spring produce deal, see the April 10 issue of The Produce News.)
The campaign began Jan. 30 with 15-second national cable television ads featuring Florida tomatoes. The venues included the Food Network, HGTV, Discovery Health, Discovery Home and Do It Yourself. The first segment, or "winter" portion of the program, ran through Feb. 26. Following a two-week break, the spring campaign began on March 13 and ran through April 9. In full, the commercials aired 595 times, and were expected to reach 36 million viewers.
"We are extremely pleased with the results so far," said Samantha Winters, director of education and promotion for the committee.
"The campaign spurred a great deal of excitement and attention," she said. "It has been written about in trade and consumer publications, including The Wall Street Journal, TV Guide -- which has a circulation of 9 million - - and others. National Public Radio played our entire commercial twice -- and for free -- because they were intrigued with the campaign."
The residual effects of the campaign are expected to continue throughout the season, and will be enhanced by the cross-promotion portion of the program. It includes POP materials for packers, distributors and retailers, making it a win-win for everyone.
The POP materials show the same "pin-up" tomato with an underline statement that reads, "What salads crave and sandwiches dream of."
The idea for the promotional project began over a year ago when a group of Florida tomato growers and officials from the committee were facing a difficult time because of the damage and destruction caused by the active 2004 hurricane season. A chain of events ensued throughout the season, ultimately resulting in an overabundance of tomatoes that were not moving through the system as quickly as they should have.
The Florida Tomato Committee hired the SenaReider advertising agency in Monterey, CA, to create the ads. The company has a substantial list of food industry clients in the fresh produce industry. Ms. Winters said that the firm was chosen because of its track record in other work it has done with the committee, and its known "out-of-the- envelope" creativity.
While the ad agency handled the commercials, and the committee took on the task of informing repackers and providing them with information and materials to keep the campaign rolling strong.
"This aspect of the campaign includes alerts, sales sheets and other materials to keep them informed," said Ms. Winters. "The campaign provided a good platform for enhancing our repacker relationships, and to prepare them with an effective response when they are approached about Florida tomatoes by their customers. Their responses have been outstanding. Numerous repackers have signed on to use the label, and many have reported that retailers have contacted them wanting to tie into the campaign. Many of these are in areas where we haven't been able to infiltrate in the past. POPs will continue to be available, and we invite repackers and others to contact us at any time in the future."
A campaign with the high level of results that this one has already shown is an expensive proposition. Ms. Winters said that the committee has not yet decided if it will be continued next year.
"We want to prove the campaign's success through data analysis with retailers so we can accurately assess the impact it has had before we make a decision," she said. "If we do continue it into next season, we may do some fine tuning. But it has been so successful the way it is that any changes would be minimal."
If it isn't broken, don't fix it, so the saying goes. And this "hot tomato" isn't so much as slightly bruised
(For more on the Florida spring produce deal, see the April 10 issue of The Produce News.)
