Turbana and a long-standing retail partner, Food City, announced the success of their joint summer event, World’s Largest Pineapple Display. The record-breaking interactive promotion leveraged social media, in-store activations and a show-stopping display that housed 18 tons of Fyffes Gold pineapples, supplied by Turbana.

Breaking the world record that was set by Reasor’s Foods in Bixby, OK, on Oct. 31, 2012, the Food City produce team used 14,700 pineapples to erect an exhibit inside the Euclid Avenue Food City in Bristol, VA.Produce personnel at the Food City in Bristol, VA, working diligently to construct what would become the world’s largest pineapple display, which utilized 14,700 Fyffes Gold pineapples. The team worked through the night to debut their massive creation on the morning of Tuesday, June 30, when the store opened at 6 a.m.

In an effort to fully immerse shoppers in the record-breaking experience, Turbana and Food City launched a social media campaign across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest, which reached over 14 million people within four days. The World’s Largest Pineapple Pinterest Board was created, and a pineapple Twitter party gave 120 participating shoppers an extra way to connect with their favorite retailer, while sharing summer pineapple recipes with seven nationally recognized food bloggers, Food City and Turbana.

Throughout the social media campaign, over 5,000 shoppers within the Food City market area connected with the retailer and Turbana through one-on-one personal interactions across Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.

In store, shoppers snapped selfies in front of the display throughout the event and posted pictures with the hashtag “#pineappleworldrecord” to win free Fyffes pineapples for the rest of the summer.  

Mike Tipton, director of produce and floral operations, said, “The store had a tremendous week in sales, and extra excitement with the customer interaction surrounding the Fyffes pineapple display.”

During the promotion, store traffic increased by more than 10 percent compared to the same week last year, and pineapple sales were at an all-time high.

 “At Turbana, we strive to go above and beyond in our involvement with our retail partners and their communities,” Scott DiMartini, vice president of sales at Turbana, said in a press release. “K-VA-T and Food City share in this philosophy, which is one of many reasons why we consider them to be such a strong and dependable partner. The WLPD event presented a fun and unique platform to encourage consumer interaction, increase community engagement, and showcase a record-breaking display with top-quality product. We would like to thank Food City for their support, especially Mike Tipton, director of produce, and his entire staff for their efforts. Mike’s vision and our mutual dedication for each other’s business allowed us to execute this event, top to bottom.”