Bon Bons ice cream launch in Costco

On April 12 was the launch nationwide in Mexico of Bon bons ice cream, mini bites of vanilla ice cream covered with chocolate.  

The launch was accompanied by the publication of a video on Costco’s social networks which had a reach of more than a million people, on the Real California Milk Facebook the boosted official video resulted in 780, 685 consumers reached and 1,458,149 total impressions. 

In addition, a special influencers campaign was published with more than 70 proposals from Mexican influencers tasting the new product #BonBons. Total results: 54, 700 impressions.  

After the launch of the vanilla ice cream dipped in dark chocolate BonBons in Mexico in April, Real California Milk and Costco decided to make a 25% discount nationwide by late summer. 

The discount boosted sales and was a success, a return on investment of 219% was obtained with a total sale of 2,807. The promotion was valid from July 26 to August 2, 2021. 

Pizza Promotion in Costco Service Deli

Costco and the California Milk Advisory Board created alliances to promote two pizzas in Service Deli area, cheese and pepperoni, where he origin of the cheese was promoted accompanied with retail publications in Facebook and Contacto magazine, as well as in the Real California Milk social media.

The promotion was executed in a month, from October 28th to November 22nd, where California Milk supported for the first time Costco Service Deli during their annual special promotion with pizzas. During this month Costco sold around 64,493 units nationwide. This is 135% of sales increase vs the same promotion in 2019. With Costco’s Facebook post 135,606 people was reached, and a total of 350,000 magazines printed.

Potato Lover’s Month – Calimax 2020

The Potato Lover’s Month promotion was an exhibition contest that was held from October 17th to November 17th in stores of the retail chain CALIMAX, with the objective of increasing visibility and sales of Idaho potatoes in 89 stores in the region of Baja California as well as guide the consumer in the selection and purchase of Idaho potatoes. 

The biggest challenge throughout this activity was to be able to have visibility due to the contingency of COVID-19

Potato Lover’s Month was achieved through retail marketing activities, such as: 

  • Massive exhibitions in-store 
  • Social media contest in which more than 20,000 people were reached. It is worth mentioning that photos of stores were updated daily to boost consumer voting, resulting in an average of 400 interactions per store. 
  • Chef Bernardo González’s cooking recipe on the social media of Calimax (on Facebook, Nov 04th), with a reach of 7.2 thousand people. The invitation to see this recipe was made through Facebook-Story with a reach of 3.3 thousand people. 
  • Newsletter targeting consumers with click rate of 23.1%, and an increase of 40% in votes for their favorite store. 

The winning Potato Lovers Month stores were Cortes, Chapultepec and Xochimilco with sales increases ranging from 44 to 54.98%  

Superama’s Race “Corre con Sentido” 2020

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.

E-commerce Strategy Halos -Walmart

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)

  • 100% of the sample’s boxes were delivered.
  • A remarkable growth in sales, with an increase of 88% pesos and 117% pieces.
  • Last two weeks we growth at 213% pesos and 237% kilos
  • Positive customers response to a healthy and different product.
  • Wonderful Halos orders increased after this activity

Introduction of New Dairy Products to the Mexican Market

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. 

Potato Lover’s Month

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. 

Halos Mandarins Campaign at Walmart and Superama.

The Wonderful Halos Mandarins program in Mexico worked hand in hand with the supermarket chains Walmart and Superama for a period of 5 months (December 2018-April 2019).  

With the support of Retail Marketing communication and activities in point of sale, a total of 546 sampling days and 169 promotional days were achieved in 69 shops distributed in 7 cities.  

The activities represented an increase in sales of 67.4 % compared to shops that had no samplings. 

Mexican Pizza Championship

The Italian Chamber of Commerce and the California Milk Advisory Board organized the fourth edition of the Mexican Pizza Championship where 8 pizza makers from different cities and restaurants competed to obtain the “Best Mexican Pizza maker 2018” and will represent Mexico in the Pizza World Championship in Naples, Italy.   

With more than 500 spectators among industry professionals and pizza lovers, each participant had to bake three different types of pizza: classic, creative and aesthetic using high quality ingredients and with the best flavor.  

The jury was conform by representatives of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Mexico, The Accademia Italiana della Cucina, industry experts and opinion leaders:  

  • Francesco Brocchi (adviser of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Mexico and sponsor of the event).  
  • Carlos Sands (“Sale el Sol” host).  
  • Chef Paulina Abascal (pastry chef).  
  • Chef Yogui – Mariano Garcés (“Hoy” t.v. show chef and influencer).  
  • Roberto Caporuscio (Pizza chef and Pizza Academy Foundation person in charge in US and ambassador for Caputo flour).  
  • Chef Mauricio Sanchez-Gracia (Trattoria Palacio restaurant chef).  
  • Bernardine Flores Alanís (Baker owner of Bread Panaderos).  
  • Chef Mario Miele (Pizza chef and owner of pizza restaurants in Mexico). 
  • Victor Stewens (Representative of the Accademia de la Cucina Italiana). 
  • Pablo Von Bertrab (Representative of CESSA University). 

Launch of Dutch Conference Pears in Superama

After several years of study to understand what do consumers are looking for and with the aim of exploring new market opportunities, the Global Sourcing team decided to import pears from Europe for the first time in the history of Walmart Mexico.     

To commemorate the arrival of the Dutch Conference Pear to the Mexican market, the event was held at Superama Santa Fe, attended the Dutch Ambassador, Margriet Leemhuis, Hernan Avalos, Global Sourcing Manager and Jorge Martinez, Purchasing Manager, Mario Kotasek, Regional Manager of Superama, Dora Trejo from Institutional Relations, as well as members of Imalinx.   

Margriet Leemhius, was happy about the arrival of products from her country to Mexico and mentioned that she is willing to continue supporting activities that allow increasing market options for consumers. “It is a great opportunity to continue importing products from Holland, we are willing to cooperate and support any type of activity that involves our products.” the ambassador added.