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.
The Soriana chain club, introduced to its catalog California dairy products such as whole and low-fat milk Rock View brand, and Brothers brand desserts that contain California ice-cream.
A launch program was carried out with samplings days and media and digital media publications.
The Dairy Council of California conducted a 3-month nationwide sampling program at 37 Costco membership warehouse clubs.
The goal was to increase the sale of 3 types of Rumiano cheeses, which are Dairy Council of California labelled.
As a general result, during the sampling days the sale increased by 99%, compared to the previous days without sampling.
The participants were 15 stores of La Torre in Guatemala, 15 Super Selectos stores and 15 Walmart stores in El Salvador. Training and practices were carried out to encourage the inclusion of 2 new varieties of potatoes, the Red Potato and the Purple Potato of Idaho.
Potato Idaho sales at participating stores increased 50%.
As part of the activations during the Zespri Kiwifruit program with McDonald’s, the recovery snack after the 5K race organized by McDonald’s Mexico was a delicious Zespri kiwifruits. This activity helped to consolidate Zespri’s positioning in the Happy Meal.
The McDonald’s Race was held in Mexico City and more than 2,000 participants enjoyed a delicious kiwifruit at the end of the race.
The activity resulted in an increase in Zespri brand recall from 21% to 47% according to the campaign evaluation market study.
With the aim of motivating bakery industry professionals to use California Raisins, a recipe contest was called with the following categories: salted bread, sweetbread, snacks or the base for other recipes.
The winning recipe award was a course at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa, California.
And the winning breads were a concha with raisins and a raisin sauce for light fried pastries.
During May and July, three sessions of the Culinary Institutes Program coordinated by Imalinx on behalf of the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council were held in renowned culinary schools located in Mexico City and Cancun, important tourist destinations and high implementation of gastronomy.
These
sessions consisted in conference and sample class, which aimed to increase the
knowledge and demand of blueberries through students and future generations of
chefs.
The participant schools were Culinary Institute Corbuse, Centro de Estudios Superiores de San Ángel (CESSA) and Technology Institute of Cancun. (UT)
During
the workshops taught by Chef Jaqueline Garreta, over 200 graduate chefs
and students learned about the origin, cultivation, and main nutritional
benefits of this fruit, as well as the varieties that can be found on the
market, the chemical reaction that they have when combined with other
ingredients or when subjected to different culinary processes, among other
topics.
Subsequently,
we held the sample classes for groups of 30 students on average in which each
of the participants had the opportunity to meet the blueberries and experiment
with them demonstrating their culinary knowledge and creativity cooking
delicious meals and drinks.
Testimonials:
“Good conference! Thank you for helping to expand our creative gastronomic
field.”
– Manuel Hernandez (Bachelor of Science in Gastronomy)
“Excellent conference and excellent
workshop. Our guests were surprised by the gastronomic quality and creativity
of our students. Congratulations!”
-Communication UT Cancun
During the second semester of 2012, a social media and retail marketing campaign was developed in Mexico and Costa Rica to promote the consumption of U.S. kernel popcorn.
The objective was to demonstrate consumers the benefits of including popcorn as part of their daily diet. The campaign had a total reach of 1,530,000 consumers in Costa Rica and more than 2,000,000 people in Mexico.
As a result of the campaign, alliances were created with one of the most important cinema chains in Costa Rica, where it was possible to negotiate the most significant points of sale to position U.S. kernel popcorn.
During the period August-September, a promotion of U.S. wines was executed for its consumption in Mexico. The project was carried out in coordination with the Western U.S. Agricultural Trade Association (WUSATA).
The promotion was developed through three components:
A seminar taught by Omar Barbosa, sommelier of the year. 42 restaurant managers and industry professionals attended to the event.
It included the participation of 10 restaurants in Mexico City, Monterrey and San Miguel de Allende, who promoted tastings of U.S. wines and used material of the campaign. This resulted in an increase in sales of 14%.
The campaign efforts were carried out through an investment in newspapers, magazines and the participation at the trade show Abastur. The national coverage had the objective to communicate the origin, benefits and characteristics of the product, achieving a total reach of 7.2 million consumers.
The strategy was developed at the restaurants Teodora, Lucca, Bistro Q and Chino Latino, in which eight dishes were created including beverages, entrees, main courses and desserts. Pomegranates from the west of United States and yellow onions were included as star ingredients.
The objective was to establish a relationship between the gastronomic uses and diffusion to consumers. Visual aids, tent cards and press announcements helped the promotion creating excellent feedback from consumers and restaurant managers.