Florida Tomato Committee efforts help to spread holiday tomato cheer
Florida Tomato Committee efforts help to spread holiday tomato cheer
"We will have an exceptionally good crop of fresh, field-grown Florida tomatoes available this fall in November and December," said Samantha Winters, marketing director of the Florida Tomato Committee. "The timing couldn't be better for holiday menu-planning and gift-making."
Ms. Winter's words are the message the committee hopes to convey to consumers through media releases recently issued by its New York City public relations firm of Lewis & Neale. The recent release suggested that editors remind consumers that homemade treats from the kitchen are always welcome as holiday gifts.
"One size fits all, and they're perfect for that hard-to-please relative or friend who already has everything," the release stated. "Even better -- no returns are ever required." The release offered three recipes, including fresh tomato jam, winner of the 2006 Best of the Best recipe contest that is open to culinary students in the United States and Canada.
"This press release effort follows a couple of years of rough hurricane seasons that did not allow us to promote a Florida crop in the fall," said Ms. Winters. "It was the committee's decision to not wait until the spring, but do an early season push. This effort is the added element we want for the holiday season. The winning recipe is also perfectly suited for holiday season use. Our hope is that the large group of daily newspapers in the United States and Canada who have received the press release will support this early campaign by letting their readers know that tomatoes are a perfect match with holiday season events such as family meals, entertaining and casual dining."
But this is far from the only campaign the Florida Tomato Committee has underway. "This year we are building on the momentum of the 2006 branding campaign," said Ms. Winters. "We are picking up on the same commercials, meaning no additional creative costs. Ads will run nationally for six weeks instead of eight in order to intensify the commercial concentration. And we will gain further leverage through relationships with retailers and repackers."
She continued, "The television portion of this year's program will include 550 TV spots that will reach 35 million viewers. The spots will tell viewers about the high nutritional value of Florida tomatoes, and the great flavor. We want retailers and the trade to know that the campaign will benefit them as well. We invite them all to become involved by running promotions in newspapers and circulars with the attractive logo, and by using the [point-of-purchase] materials."
In 2005, before the new campaign began, the committee sent out 1,691 p-o- p kits to retailers. In 2006, during the campaign, it received requests for 4,079 kits. The campaign drew a lot of attention, including a story in The Wall Street Journal Jan. 23.
Results of the campaign, taken from the Perishables Group's FreshFacts retail scan data, showed that movement of field tomatoes increased 23.2 percent, while hothouse beefsteak and on-the-vine tomatoes fell 18 percent and 20 percent respectively from the second quarter of 2005 to the second quarter of 2006, pushing field tomatoes to the top rank in category share up from the third-place spot it occupied the year before.
"This year's crop appears to be in great shape," said Skip Jonas, field compliance officer for the committee. "Harvesting has begun in the Palmetto and Ruskin regions, and a little in Immokalee. The Fort Pierce and Palm Beach areas will start mid-November. Homestead follows the end of December. Plantings continue pretty much continually through the end of the season, which is June 15. The weather has been perfect and reports coming in from growers indicate that everything is moving along nicely."
(For more on Florida tomatoes and vegetables, see the Nov. 13 issue of The Produce News.)
Ms. Winter's words are the message the committee hopes to convey to consumers through media releases recently issued by its New York City public relations firm of Lewis & Neale. The recent release suggested that editors remind consumers that homemade treats from the kitchen are always welcome as holiday gifts.
"One size fits all, and they're perfect for that hard-to-please relative or friend who already has everything," the release stated. "Even better -- no returns are ever required." The release offered three recipes, including fresh tomato jam, winner of the 2006 Best of the Best recipe contest that is open to culinary students in the United States and Canada.
"This press release effort follows a couple of years of rough hurricane seasons that did not allow us to promote a Florida crop in the fall," said Ms. Winters. "It was the committee's decision to not wait until the spring, but do an early season push. This effort is the added element we want for the holiday season. The winning recipe is also perfectly suited for holiday season use. Our hope is that the large group of daily newspapers in the United States and Canada who have received the press release will support this early campaign by letting their readers know that tomatoes are a perfect match with holiday season events such as family meals, entertaining and casual dining."
But this is far from the only campaign the Florida Tomato Committee has underway. "This year we are building on the momentum of the 2006 branding campaign," said Ms. Winters. "We are picking up on the same commercials, meaning no additional creative costs. Ads will run nationally for six weeks instead of eight in order to intensify the commercial concentration. And we will gain further leverage through relationships with retailers and repackers."
She continued, "The television portion of this year's program will include 550 TV spots that will reach 35 million viewers. The spots will tell viewers about the high nutritional value of Florida tomatoes, and the great flavor. We want retailers and the trade to know that the campaign will benefit them as well. We invite them all to become involved by running promotions in newspapers and circulars with the attractive logo, and by using the [point-of-purchase] materials."
In 2005, before the new campaign began, the committee sent out 1,691 p-o- p kits to retailers. In 2006, during the campaign, it received requests for 4,079 kits. The campaign drew a lot of attention, including a story in The Wall Street Journal Jan. 23.
Results of the campaign, taken from the Perishables Group's FreshFacts retail scan data, showed that movement of field tomatoes increased 23.2 percent, while hothouse beefsteak and on-the-vine tomatoes fell 18 percent and 20 percent respectively from the second quarter of 2005 to the second quarter of 2006, pushing field tomatoes to the top rank in category share up from the third-place spot it occupied the year before.
"This year's crop appears to be in great shape," said Skip Jonas, field compliance officer for the committee. "Harvesting has begun in the Palmetto and Ruskin regions, and a little in Immokalee. The Fort Pierce and Palm Beach areas will start mid-November. Homestead follows the end of December. Plantings continue pretty much continually through the end of the season, which is June 15. The weather has been perfect and reports coming in from growers indicate that everything is moving along nicely."
(For more on Florida tomatoes and vegetables, see the Nov. 13 issue of The Produce News.)
