Paola Longoria, our Idaho Potatoes brand ambassador, competed in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics giving IPC visibility in the world’s most important events and with the challenge of spreading information about nutrition in Idaho Potatoes.
This effective campaign was an extension of the sponsorship that IPC has with the athlete, where she shares 3 stories and 1 post on Instagram and Facebook every month. This communication plan was used for the long-awaited world event, where Paola recorded with the Idaho Potatoes mascot, “Spuddy buddy”, tagging IPC’s official social networks. Her Instagram account currently has more than 355,000 followers and a circle of more than 1,587,147 followers on Facebook, a community that continues to grow thanks to the athlete’s popularity.
The campaign successfully included stories within the sporting events and photographs in emblematic places of the venue, which exceeded 3,928 likes on Instagram and 11,344 likes on Facebook.
On June 17, an online seminar was held for more than 1,000 registered participants taught by Chef Irving Quiroz where he spoke about the importance of butter as a key ingredient in baking.
During the 90-minute session, Chef Irving Quiroz shared his knowledge and experiences with butter, highlighting the importance of quality butter, the optimum temperature for different types of baking, and the process of sifting the flour and fermenting the dough. Also, he explained the differences between a margarine and butter, an important characteristic at the end of the baking.
Chef Irving Quiroz baked: Conchas Gourmet, Chocolate Chip Cookies and a little-known bread in Mexico called Kouign Amann, a typical bread from the French region of Bretagne that means “Butter tart” and which has a special cold-rolling process. The digital recipe book was available to download at www.lechedecalifornia.com
The event was moderated by Beto Lanz, author and journalist about travel and gastronomy in Mexico and the world. Beto emphasized the origin, the process and the flavor of California Butter in addition to answering the participants’ questions.
Webinar record: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=358uKQGoLEw
On May 27th, Imalinx organized a Bakery Webinar with Chef Irving Quiroz to talk about the “Uses of California Raisins i bakery” The Chef developed 3 recipes with raisins as the main ingredient and he explained the process of each one during the webinar.
The webinar was broadcasted on Zoom with a total of 461 registered attendees and 311 total users during 90 minutes. The webinar was also shared on Facebook Live , generating 604 more live views with the possibility of watching again, reaching 32k views by the end of May!
The activity was a total success, especially during this period where people are at home eager to learn something new every day. After the webinar we received many comments asking where to buy California Raisins, sharing their own recipes and greetings for making this webinar.
To celebrate National Raisin Day (USA) in Mexico, we coordinated a media experience in Mexico so media contacts could enjoy a naturally sweet snack from home.
The activity was coordinated with our public relations agency, who selected specialized media (foodies, nutrition, mommy bloggers among others) to send them a kit of California raisins to their home. The kit included a mason jar with California raisins branded material and a digital recipe book with 5 healthy snacks made by our nutrition specialist Fernanda Alvarado.
Total results: 14 distributed media kits, more than 20 publications in digital and social media.
Also, we sent two press releases to specialized cooking, bakery, nutrition, and gastronomy media with the goal of sharing relevant information about the benefits of baking with California raisins. We also took the opportunity to talk about the history of National Raisin Day.
Imalinx executed a #StayHome campaign on behalf of the Idaho Potato Commission with the goal of creating a unique consumer program that encouraged potato consumption.
The proposal was executed by renowned chefs on the Mexican border: Adria Marina, Bianca Castro and Javier Plascencia, who developed home cooking recipes with Idaho potatoes as the main ingredient. The chefs used different digital platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram Lives and YouTube where they spread their own recipes.
Likewise, the activity was merged with a retail marketing strategy, with printed QR codes which, send the user to one of the recipes developed by the chefs. These eight recipes were published at the official site in a new section “Recipe of the week”.
The proposal was accompanied by a communication activity in Calimax, a supermarket chain in Tijuana, where different content with Idaho potatoes was published through social networks, as well as radio and television ads on its internal channel. As a surprise activity, people also participated in an activity to win exclusive prizes for the brand from their homes through platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.
This year, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) sponsor the Superama Race, it took place on February 29, at the CU Stadium with a total of 5,000 runners in the categories of 5 or 10 km.
The sponsorship included two days of activation, the first one during the kit delivery and the second in the race, with a stand branded by CDFA, California Raisins and Halos Mandarins. The objective was to increase the brand awareness of the California Products and share key messages through a consumer kit delivered to the runners at the end of the race.
On both days the runners were invited to scan the QR code printed on a flyer made with recycled paper, the code sends them to a landing page with more information and the ones who completed their register was available to enjoy the product sampling. This dynamic was created for the generation of a database that resulted in 319 new contacts.
Our landing page had 478 visits, 429 clicks and a survey with runners favorite products:
36% Halo Mandarins
24% California Raisins
21% California Oranges
19% Wonderful Pistachios
The runners were so grateful about the product sampling because it was an excellent alternative for their recovery, after the effort made during the race.
We distributed 7,810 boxes of Wonderful Halos through an e-commerce strategy with Walmart Mexico.
In February we contacted the Walmart e-commerce department to develop a strategy that increases the brand awareness of the Wonderful Halos Mandarins. The main objective was to educate our customers on the goods of this Wonderful product.
With the e-commerce team of Walmart we coordinated the delivery of Halos surprises, a total of 25 Walmart stores from Mexico City and Guadalajara distributed 7,10 boxes with two halos mandarins inside (340 boxes for Mexico and 225 in Guadalajara) These boxes were sent to any customer which had purchased $200 pesos in fresh products.
SALES REPORT (Official data from Walmart E-commerce Department)
In January, representatives of the California Milk Advisory Board met in Koh Samui, Thailand where the global strategy was reviewed. For two days, the representatives were in meetings so that together they could give feedback from past years to continue improving. This year in Mexico the following objectives were set:
In October 2019, Real California Milk held the second edition of the California Dairy Products Contest where 8 teams competed for a trip to Napa, California. The Food & Wine team showed by Chef Antonio Garrido and Chef Mariana Rojas surprised the jury with their dishes and became winners of the Training in Trends and handling of dairy products, based at the CIA, Copia in Napa, California.
In January 2020, the chefs of Food & Wine Table and Chef Abraham Alanis of Laben Foodservice travel to California to receive the training. During the trip, the chefs visited Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese where they participated in a Culinary Trends Workshop 2020 presented by CIA executive chefs, Brad Barnes & Barbara Alexander who also offered a culinary and tasting experience with their own recipes made with California dairy products.
They had a tour in the Farmstead Cheese, to learn about the quality processes of Real California Milk and the animal care, one of the main characteristics of Real California Milk dairy products. The last day the chefs had the experience of cooking at the CIA facilities, Copy being part of multiculturalism reflected in the dishes of chefs from different parts of the world.
Antonio Garrido, Mariana Rojas, and Abraham Lanis went back home with the knowledge and dairy training to be implemented in their kitchens and processes in order to offer quality and flavor in their recipes.
Imalix supported the process of insertion into the Mexican market of products with the seal of the California Dairy Commission. Negotiations were worked out from 2018, until this year we were able to find cheeses and Ice Cream in supermarket chains at Mexico.
In Walmart we can find 12 new flavors of Crystal Creamery Ice Cream that were supported with point of sale activities and a digital communication program for the launch. The 4 months after sales was increased by 400 %.
Soriana Chain Price Club, City Club, introduced two desserts with ice cream and, one specialty lychee flavor. Sales have grown steadily by 93 % compared to normal and sampling days. It also opened the doors of its catalogue to some specialty cheeses such as Monterey Jack, Cheddar and Provolone. Promotional activities were created for the sliced product and, sales increased by 500 % on samplings days against normal.
Calimax, a regional chain with 98 stores, introduced 21 new products into 20% of its stores. Sierra Nevada, Point Reyes and Fiscalini are part of the catalogue and presented in the “Rincón del Sabor” island with deli products in the shops.
Laben in Monterrey will make its third cheese import under the DiStefano brand in six different presentations between the products of Fiore di Latte, Artisanal Burrata and, Fresh Mozzarella.
On the other hand, Ochoa Dairy Products in May began importing cream cheese under the Smithfield brand of the Savencia processor. This product is a second choice of California Cream Cheese at the state of Baja California.