OSO Sweet launches its largest-ever media campaign

January 31, 2005

OSO Sweet," the winter sweet onion brand from Chile, is making its largest media push in its history.

Called the OSO Over America Tour, this major media campaign is designed to cover the United States, said Rodger Helwig, the San Francisco-based marketing communications director for OSO Sweet. Both print and broadcast outlets around the country will be featuring OSO Sweets in articles and segments from January through March.

Part of the promotional effort will be appearances on radio and television shows nationally and in more than 40 major media markets, via a satellite media tour and in-studio segments.

OSO Sweet spokespeople, including Aliza Green, author of The Field Guide to Produce, Christy Rost, author of The Family Table, Jan Roberts-Dominguez, author of The Onion Book, and Cheffy Baby, a well-known TV chef, will be hitting the airwaves in all regions of the country cooking and talking about OSO Sweets.

The print portion of the media blitz includes an OSO Sweet full-page Super Bowl recipe story, "Oh-So Sweet Super Sunday Buffet," scheduled to appear in over 500 newspapers. This is in addition to a story, "Sweet Onions With a Caramelized Twist," which focused on cooking with OSO Sweets and was to be sent to 2,000 newspapers.

Samples of the current crop, the largest ever at more than 500,000 40-pound cases, will go out to 100 top newspapers and 125 highly rated morning drive-time radio shows.

To enhance the public-relations efforts, new radio and TV ads were created this season. "We conducted our first focus-group study this past fall to find out what consumers were looking for when they purchased onions," said Mr. Helwig. "It gave us tremendous insight and helped us craft an advertising message that we hope will resonate with consumers."

OSO Sweet again will sponsor the ever-popular "Emeril Live," show on the Food Network. "This will be our seventh consecutive year running spots on "Emeril." It's one of the best vehicles for reaching our target audience," said Mr. Helwig.

Spot radio and TV commercials will also run in select markets, with cable buys on A&E, Discovery, Lifetime, CNN and the Weather Channel.

OSO Sweets are distributed in the United States by Saven Corp. in Waterford, MI.