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.
Public relations programs changed completely as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, many of the face-to-face events were canceled, and brand launches migrated to digital.
Fernanda Alvarado, is a teacher in community nutrition with an International Master’s degree in Nutrition and Dietetics from the European University of the Atlantic. She is co-author of the Manual “Learning to Live with Diabetes” of the Universidad Iberoamericana and for more than 10 years, she has been working on the creation of editorial content related to nutrition and a healthy lifestyle for the food industry.
Fernanda is convinced that digital media are an important vehicle for prevention and health care, which is why she generates content that seeks to improve the diet of Mexicans and publishes them on her Blog Bien Comer, Instagram profile with more than 15,300 followers; and YouTube channel with 54,300 subscribers; she also hosts a podcast, a leader in the nutrition, health and wellness category.
Due to the impact of her communication, Imalinx decided to work with Fernanda to increase brand awareness of Pasitas de California, Real California Milk and Kiwi Zespri Vita in the nutritional field.
The campaigns lasted 12 months where 100% digital activities were developed to talk about the benefits of incorporating raisins in the daily diet, even in the bakery, as well as fighting the myths of dairy and promoting its qualities of a natural product . On the other hand, the Kiwi Zespri had a great boost by positioning it as a fruit that provides more than 100% of the vitamin C necessary for an average adult.
Among the most outstanding activities is the Well Eating podcast recorded together with Chef Irving Quiroz to talk about Diet and Bread, with key messages of the contribution of raisins in the bakery. Said podcast reached the # 1 position of the most listened to podcast in 2020. (Listen to it here)
As well as a Youtube Live with Sol Sigal, to talk about the benefits of vitamin C in high performance athletes. And YouTube videos with topics such as: “Are dairy necessary?” / Raisins, a healthy sugar substitute “/” All about butter “/” Dairy myths “. With a total of +121, 245 views.
During the month of December, Imalinx coordinated a program with 5 renowned chefs from mexico who had the opportunity to cook with dried fruits, dairy and fresh products.
With the aim of promoting the consumption of products such as yellow onions, raisins, California cheese and butter during the holiday season, Imalinx with the support of Beto Lanz coordinatedthis program with 5 renowned chefs across Mexico.
Participating Chefs: Pablo Salas, Bianca Castro, Andrea Martínez, Juan Emilio Villaseñor and Christian González, who developed easy-to-replicate recipes using the previously mentioned ingredients as the star ingredient.
Each of the recipes were published on the Chef’s own digital channels and replicated on the social networks of the brand in order to amplify the reach.
Pablo Salas, from the Amaranta Restaurant, developed a recipe of NY Sliders with yellow onion.
Bianca Castro. Biscottis Pastry baked a total of 3 recipes with California raisin butter, as well as a yellow onion crumble.
Andrea Martinez, from Casa Liebre prepared 2 recipes with California cheese and butter and a pork rind in Raisin Adobo. Also a Pasta made by yellow onion
Juan Emilio Villaseñor, from La Cocinoteca presents us with a recipe for mole with raisins, a butter with garlic and yellow onion stuffed with Cod.
Christian González from Boulangerie Amasijo, innovated by creating a raisin chamoy and a crisp shortbread based on California butter.
Luis Serdio from Corazón de Pollo, with a unique concept of gourmet rotisserie offered a limited edition Buffalo Chicken Sandwich and Mac&Cheese box with California cheeses.
On December 2020, California Raisins held the first edition of the contest “Christmas Bread” with Colectivo Mexicano de Panaderos, A.C. (COMEPAN A.C.).- Mexican Bakers’ Guild The contest was open for every bakery lover with or without experience, but with the same passion: baking.
The objective of the contest was to create a Christmas bread recipe with a unique condition: the bread must include California raisins. The participants sent at least 3 photos in high definition along with a short story about what inspired them to make that recipe. All recipes were presented and submitted for qualification to the jury, with Paulina Herrera, Miren Karmele, Carlos Ramírez, Pietro Lembo and Kenny Kuri; Mexican chefs and bakers that support the Bakery Sector in Mexico.
For the first edition, COMEPAN receive a total of 27 participant recipes, and selected 5 winners who surprised the jury with their Christmas bread recipe and receive $100USD as a prize. Among them was Daniel Sánchez who obtained 1st place in the contest with his product “Christmas Basket”.
After the contest, Pasitas de California developed a digital recipe book with all the creations of the 27 participants who showed their creativity, talent and Christmas spirit into a baked product that captivated the jury at first glance. (link a Receta)
About COMEPAN A.C.
The Colectivo Mexicano de Panaderos (Mexican Bakers’ Guild) is a meeting point for all bakery enthusiasts, professionals, entrepreneurs and enthusiasts in general who share the philosophy of good bread and good baking practices to obtain it, as well as the interest in professionalization and social valuation of the baker’s trade in Mexico.