WUSATA carried out a virtual trade mission between exporters from the Western Union States and importers from 5 Latin American countries. The objective was to generate new business relationships and mission was divided into 4 categories on 4 different dates:
18 companies from the Western Union States participated in the mission and 26 importers from different countries such as Costa Rica, Colombia, Chile, Panama and Dominican Republic were present. Each exporter had an average of 5 meetings, with a total of 106 meetings across the mission.
This activity was previously planned for a face-to-face trip to Costa Rica and Colombia but due to the restrictions of the pandemic we resorted to technology and offered the possibility of having private and group sessions. This new mode of business mission resulted efficiency and the possibility to target a greater number of contacts with previous and virtual agendas.
WUSATA conducted a virtual trade mission between exporters between the states of Idaho, Oregon and Mexican Importers, with the aim of developing business relationships. Appointments were made between leading exporters and distributors and importers in Mexico in both, the retail and wholesale sectors.
This activity was an alternative to traditional trade missions that have been face-to-face. There were significant efficiencies in resources, budgets and time. Activities were programmed in anticipation so that the yellow onion season of Idaho and Eastern Oregon could begin strongly.
This new mode of trade mission proved to be very practical since from the comfort of the participant’s home of office. Strong and long lasting ties can be formed while staying safe at the same time.
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.
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)
As part of the Retail Marketing campaign with Superama, Zespri joined the initiative to be the first fruit to have a e-commerce campaign with giveaway at Superama online.
Twenty Superama stores in Mexico City were selected in 4 different weeks of the season, to send 9 000 gift boxes to consumers.
For every online purchase of fruits and vegetables at the participating stores they were given a single box of kiwifruit Zespri® Sungold. The aim of this campaign was for more consumers to know this variety of Golden pulp, sweet taste and full of vitality and to encourage their consumption.
Five companies of the Western United States visited Cancun and Mexico city with the objective to meet with the potential buyers of food products of added value and establish business relationships in order to introduce their products on the Mexican Market.
Carried out the commercial mission of buyers from Mexico, Colombia and, Chile for value added products at Washington and California with the Western United States Agricultural Trade Association.
Participants had the opportunity to meet with more than 30 suppliers from the region with the objective of establishing business relationships.
In conjunction with the Retail Chain Calimax, the exhibition contest between the stores was held in all its formats with Idaho Potatoes (bags or bulk) 81 stores from Tijuana, Mexicali and, Ensenada participated in the objectives of the promotion: increase idaho’s potato supply and train buyers and warehouse personnel on proper handling and storage of the product.
The promotion lasted 4 weeks and Wilcox sent over 28 loads of Idaho potatoes.
In addition, the activity was complemented with a communication plan in conjunction with Calimax on its social networks, television ads and, radio. Also, a publication at the newspaper Frontera.
Sales of Idaho potatoes in the three winning stores increased by 62 % and, in total had a reach of 1 313 407 consumers.