On the day that the Produce Marketing Association’s 2014 Fresh Summit opened, Bryan Silbermann, PMA chief executive officer, promised it would be the most well-attended event in the history of the organization.

His educated guess proved accurate, as the association announced that a new record of more than 22,400 people attended the three-day event, Oct. 17-19 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Southern California. A day of seminars and workshops was followed by the weekend trade show that featured 1,090 exhibiting companies occupying 265,300 net square feet of show space.   The previous attendance record for PMA’s annual event was about 21,200.PMA President Cathy Burns and Bryan Silbermann, PMA chief executive officer, entered the stage playing tambourines to 'Happy' by Pharrell.

The show itself featured a who’s who in the fresh produce industry as well as an array of innovative and cutting-edge products, ideas and marketing concepts. Of course, bountiful fresh produce from around the world filled the aisles but so did products made from chia, quinoa and flax seed. Traditional marketing images of fresh produce were plentiful but so were cartoon characters from Sesame Street, Disney and other popular culture.

Highlighting the general sessions were a couple of trendy marketers admonishing the produce firms to join the 21st century and leave traditional promotional schemes behind. In addition Silbermann and PMA President Cathy Burns set out their blueprint to how a company can survive in these changing times.

The two PMA executives highlighted several trends that companies should focus on as they set their course for the future. Burns told the audience that multiculturalism is no longer a niche but is mainstream. She said ethnic diversity in the United States and globally has created a great opportunity for the produce industry, which can capitalize on the many different items that make up this sector’s product framework.  

Silbermann indicated transparency from the field to the fork is no longer a choice but basically the cost of entry. He said firm’s must be “proactively trustworthy” if they want to catch the attention of the consumer. On this theme, Burns said “word of mouth” is still the most trustworthy means to spread information about your products and company.

The PMA CEO talked about the convenience factor and how that is shaping eating occasions for consumers in the United States.  Fresh Summit highlighted the concept with an opening party that featured a dozen food trucks serving the thousands of people who attended.  

Dick Spezzano, president of Spezzano Consulting, receiving the 2014 Robert L. Carey Leadership Award from Jay Pack, last year’s winner.Silbermann also said women in the workplace, one-person households and on-line purchases are trends that significantly shape produce purchases.

Burns talked about the obesity epidemic and the opportunities that the produce industry’s great nutritional story presents for marketers. She said without a change in eating habits, today’s children will be the first generation to have shorter life expectancy than their parents.

Both executive talked about PMA’s “Eat Brighter” campaign, which allows produce industry firm’s free access to Sesame Street characters on their brands and marketing tools.

The two other general sessions featured modern marketers Jeremy Gutsche of trendhunters.com and Gary Vaynerchuk of Vaynermedia. Both admonished the crowd to forego what has gotten them to where they are and seek out what’s going to happen next. Gutsche said the “three traps of a farmer” are complacency, repetitiveness and protectiveness. He said to succeed a company has to be willing to destroy what got them there and look to the future for the next best thing. He said curiosity and trying something different is much better than repeating the past…even if it was successful.

Vaynerchuk style and approach was different but his message was the same. He said the biggest problem with most companies — in fact, pretty much all of them — is “they don’t market in the year we live in.”

He has made a living being ahead of the curve. His main message was that every firm needs to be a media company and connect with the end consumer. Don’t look for the retailer or others along the supply chain to do that for you or you will be left behind.  He said social media is the medium that should be used because that is what consumers are using. Your message can be great he said but if the consumer isn’t listening to it, it is worthless. He told the crowd that he did significant research about how the produce industry is marketing to the consumer and found it to be lacking. In fact, he said 90 percent of those dollars are wasted. He advised reallocating funds to conduct meaningful social media connections to the end user.  

During the Friday workshop sessions, perhaps the most well attended meeting was a discussion of the newly-released Food & Drug Administration supplemental proposals for the Food Safety Modernization Act. FDA Deputy Commissioner of U.S. Foods Mike Taylor and his staff analyzed the new proposals which basically add flexibility and reduce some of the testing and requirements in the initial proposals. The new rules also exclude more farms from compliance. These proposals are open for comment with final implementation of the FSMA Produce Rule scheduled for late in 2015.

The convention also featured the awarding of the 2014 Robert L. Carey Leadership Award to Dick Spezzano, president of Spezzano Consulting. “This is a man who epitomizes what it means to give back to the industry in which he’s worked for over 50 years,” said last year’s winner Jay Pack, while presenting the award to Spezzano. “He believes in reaching out to youth — to build healthy eating habits early and to attract the best and the brightest young talent.”

Spezzano is also the chairman of the PMA Foundation, which puts him back on the PMA board 20 years after he served as chairman. No industry member has ever achieved that level and length of service in the history of the organization.