In the fall of 2013, Freska Produce International Inc., based in Oxnard, CA, inked a two-year tie-in deal with the Consumer Products Division of the Disney Corp. to link the firm’s mangos with the most popular, iconic Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.

“We were looking at ways to promote our mangos and increase sales,” said Gary Clevenger who is managing member and co-founder of the Ventura County-based mango importer. “It seems like a great way to get kids and their moms to try mangos. Disney has done similar tie-ins with good results on apple slices and strawberries.”

Though the contract was signed in September, it is specific to the firm’s Mexican mangos, which just got underway in February. Clevenger told The Produce News on Wednesday, Feb. 19, that the firm’s graphic artists were just putting the finishing touches on their new Disney-themed display cartons and they would be rolled out in March.

“We have developed four or five cartons using the most popular Disney characters,” he said.

Clevenger said in doing the research, Freska discovered that Disney remains a very strong brand among kids. “Most of their (television) shows are very highly rated and ranked number one in their time slot.”

While it was a simple casing of just calling up the Disney Consumers Products Division and making a pitch for the partnership, Clevenger said any partner of Disney must jump through a lot of hoops before any cross promotion begins. “They are very protective of their brand and certainly don’t want you to do anything to damage the Disney name. We had to pass both social and food-safety audits that are more stringent than any other audits in the industry,” he said.

It is primarily for that reason that the tie-in is specific to Freska’s Mexican mangos. He said Disney has not yet signed off with regard to the societal situation in some other mango-producing nations. Clevenger said Disney is very cognizant of its social responsibility and has to make sure that the countries where the mangos are being produced have top marks on the human rights scorecard.

Clevenger said the cost of participation in a Disney tie-in program “takes a good chunk out of our advertising/marketing budget. But we are hoping it results in a good buzz for our brand and increased sales from our existing customers. We are also hoping that we can do business with some retailers that we currently aren’t working with. If you pick up one or two new retailers that would be great.”

Clevenger said landing a new retail customer would definitely deem the promotion a success. He said the firm will also be able to measure this year’s sales against those of previous years to see if the tie in has an impact.

While he said that the Disney brand and characters are very popular with all ethnic groups, this specific promotion is aimed at Anglo kids. “We want to attract Anglo kids and their moms who haven’t given mangos much of a look before,” he said.

He added that making that visceral appeal to Hispanic and other ethnic groups isn’t as important as they grew up with mangos and typically are already hooked on them. It is predominantly U.S.-born Anglos that have not been exposed to the world’s most popular fruit that might give it a try because the carton features Mickey Mouse.

Clevenger said that by mid- to late March, mango supplies should be on the rising side of the ledger, but he said it might not be until the first week of April that there will be promotable supplies. But he said after that Mexico should produce big numbers all through spring and summer.