On August 8 and 9, Imalinx, in conjunction with the California Dairy Council and 5 cheese producers, visited the city of Querétaro to provide training to executives and store managers on products that bear the Real California Milk seal.
Mention client, association CMAB
The event was coordinated 3 months in advance to be able to adjust the agendas of Point Reyes, Di Stefano, Cheese Bits, Joseph Farms, and Vintage, prepare the presentations, send samples, and arrange the training for 40 people from HEB that included executives, regional managers from Bajío, store managers, and deli managers.
In addition to the presentations, there were Q&A sessions, as well as a guided tasting by Joe Baird, The Cheese Monger at CMAB, to discuss the flavor profiles of some cheeses, ways to use them, and how to pair them.
Within the trip and the activity, tastings were also coordinated in 3 HEB stores to promote the products with the end consumer.
“Thank you for the support. With these activities we can boost sales and commitment of the stores and collaborators to increase product sales!” HEB Regional Buyer
Expo ANTAD, that took place from March 12 to 14, is a trade show focused on the retail sector with more than 1,100 exhibiting companies and an estimated 10,000 professional visitors.
This year IMALINX coordinated a total of 17 booths for 6 of our clients, organizing logistics, business meetings and follow-ups with importers, distributors and supermarkets of various categories of food and beverages; from fresh produce such as Idaho Potatoes, grains and nuts such as Popcorn and California Raisins, dairy products with California Milk and various companies from the South and West of the United States.
The show was a success and has allowed us to see products in the supermarket in a short period of time after the show.
The main objective of American Pistachio Growers (APG) is to disseminate the studies carried out that prove the health benefits of consuming pistachios.
Since October 2023, we have participated in nutrition and culinary events focused on health professionals, students, media and consumers to transmit through conferences given by Dr. Arely Vergara (spokesperson for the association and researcher at La Salle College), the importance of consuming pistachios in a daily diet, the barrier to their consumption in Mexico, main benefits, as well as the recommended portion (49 pistachios).
American Pistachio Growers has had presence in 8 forums dedicated 100% to health, where recognized Nutrition Institutions in Mexico stand out: Fomentos de Nutrición A.C, AMMFEN and AMENAC.
More than 3,000 people have received the most relevant information about American pistachios and 80% agree that they were not aware of their benefits but are willing to integrate them into their daily diet, and in turn, recommend them to their patients.
The California Milk Advisory Board once again participated in the largest Expo for Supermarkets in LATAM, Expo ANTAD. A leading professional event for the Retail, Hotel and Restaurant sector in the food industry supply chain, took place May 17-19 in Guadalajara.
It was an event focused on generating business meetings, publicizing the attributes and benefits of California Dairy Products, as well as the support we provide in marketing and communication matters.
We presented different brands of artisan cheeses such as Point Reyes, Sierra Nevada, Fiscalini, Vintage, Bellwether and Nicasio Valley.
Bob Leonard, Vice President of Pacific Cheese, presented the California Select Farms brand cheeses and we also prepared pizzas as part of the tasting activity throughout the 3 days of the expo.
Thanks to the event, we generated leads, we were able to introduce the full range of Vintage cheeses in the Mexican market and generate business opportunities for specialty products.
This webinar aimed to reach an audience of more than 300 bakery professionals and talk about the different ways in which California Raisins can be included in the baking industry, with two of the most important opinion leaders as speakers.
The renowned Chef, Irving Quiroz, addressed different topics on existing trends at baking in this free webinar, obtaining more than 2,300 download requests, and exceeding 660 attendees, which included bakery professionals and gastronomy students.
In November 2021, California Raisins sponsored the International Gourmet Festival in Vallarta. We were able to generate over 30 trade leads and have presence during the event with raisins and cheese boards in 2 of the participating restaurants during the opening as well as during the wine festival, with the participation of the best international and Mexican vineyards.
In the month of December, hand in hand with other major brands, Real California Milk sponsored one of the biggest dynamics of the season, where a Christmas-themed musical theater production dedicated to children took place. The objective of this dynamic was to impact this segment of the market and at the same time, educate on how to Look for the Seal.
The event took place on dates prior to Christmas. Real California Milk participated as a sponsor with the “Look for the Seal” dynamic for a full month. The dynamic consisted of hiding the Real California Milk seals along the route and whoever found all the hidden seals would be the winner and would soon receive as a prize, a gift with branded backpacks, cheese boards, etc. At the same time, all of the attendees received a welcome kit with pens, balls, and pizza cutters.
The activity was very successful, with more than 10,500 cars at the end of the month, great attendee response towards the dynamics, and the prevalence of the Look for the Seal message was achieved.
On November 24th, in coordination with the Idaho State Department of Agriculture, we celebrated a Thanksgiving dinner which representatives of supermarkets, restaurants, media in Mexico attended, in addition to Thomas Reott, Consul General of the United States in Tijuana.
“The objective was to show the richness and variety of food produced in Idaho, as a reflection of its natural and industrial characteristics that allows it to create more than 185 commodities and that place it in the top 10 of the main agricultural producers in the United States” (siempre la noticia, 2021)
The Idaho Russet potato was highlighted, as well as the yellow onion.
The Chef in charge of developing recipes was Javier Plasencia with more than 50 k followers on Instagram.
Chef Javier Plasencia created a 5-course menu incorporating Idaho ingredients in a unique way:
This year DiStefano burrata cheese arrived to the best restaurants in Mexico! For two months, Real California Milk, in company of different media and influencers, traveled around “Ruta de la Burrata” visiting three different restaurants, all of them Italian, but with different concepts. Our first stop at Fornería del Becco, welcomed our guests with an exquisite burrata e pomodoro appetizer, followed by a burrata pizza with anchovy and spinach and calamarata pasta with asparagus and burrata, all exquisitely prepared by Chef Tobías Petzold.
The second destination was Ornella, a new restaurant in San Ángel (Mexico City) runned by Chef Axel Vázquez and which recentely opened its doors in October of this year. The Chef’s creations delighted commensals with a caprese and burrata salad with pomodoro pastry.
Finally, our trip concluded in Mattea, another restaurant under the command of Chef Vázquez, being an excellent option for fresh homemade pasta lovers. Here, the media enjoyed a pizza margherita with burrata, spaghetti with truffle, burrata with puff pastry and cherry tomatoes.
Each experience was instantly shared through our guests’ Instagram stories, Facebook posts and web articles, which were shared through the media: Larousse Cocina, Food and Wine, Food and Travel, Maria Orsini, Cocina Vital and Paperbeat. The campaign was a success and managed to impact more than 1,943,708 consumers.
Along with the media strategy during the “Ruta de la Burrata”, there was communication on the official social networks of Real California Milk, promoting the seasonal dishes with the DiStefano burrata and inviting consumers to visit the restaurants. The investment made in Facebook and Instagram successfully resulted in more than 3,795,015 impressions and around 1,544,026 people reached.
Our guests favorably enjoyed each stop of out “Ruta de la Burrata” and we successfully achieved satisfactory communication in each of the media, achieving top-level diffusion for the participant restaurants, as well as the presence of the Real California Milk seal.
The California Raisins Administrative Committee participated in Expo Pan (the pioneer exhibition for the bakery, pastry, pizza, ice cream and coffee industry in Mexico) with over 500 visitors.
Chef Irving Quiroz prepared a recipe using and mentioning the versatility and quality that California raisins provide to the bakery.
The event, in addition to the digital campaign on Expo Pan’s Facebook (with 55k followers), was supported by a campaign with a newsletter, publication in a digital magazine and banners on the Alfa Editores site, with a reach of 434,400 impressions.
To support this activity, Irving Quiroz conducted a Webinar with Larousse Cocina called “Baking Techniques to Attract New Customers”, where bakery professionals were invited and were taught the business side of the industry and how to be more attractive to consumers, this campaign achieved a total of 2,314 registrations.