Ocean Mist Farms, a leading grower and marketer of fresh artichokes, announced increases in retail sales of 20–30 percent among the results of its Reach for the Gold promotion designed to reinforce its brand position as the gold standard in artichoke production to both trade and consumer audiences during the peak spring season.
Rather than a traditional sweepstakes approach, the Reach for the Gold campaign uniquely leveraged weekly email trivia with the brand’s existing database of over 63,000 shoppers that strategically included four key areas of brand messaging: family farming legacy, growing region, sustainability and meal inspiration to truly engage them in educational content for an opportunity to win. In addition, mass brand awareness was generated through both social media and advertising campaigns that drove visitors to a new Reach for the Gold webpage, which informed visitors about how Ocean Mist Farms is committed to upholding the gold standard in artichoke production.
To directly benefit trade partners and incentivize foot traffic to their stores, 10 participating retailers were supported through an individualized social media ad campaign reaching their specific communities with details about Ocean Mist Farms’ gold standard artichokes being on-shelf. Furthermore, each of these partners also received email marketing support targeting the brand’s shoppers who identified themselves as frequenting that specific store. Shoppers could easily locate Ocean Mist Farms artichokes on the shelf by way of new, on-pack messaging that included a gold standard sticker on clamshells and a gold standard petal insert on bulk artichokes.
In response to the brand’s ongoing collection of shopper preferences that indicated typically two or four artichokes are purchased at a time, this spring Ocean Mist Farms launched a new four-pack clamshell with size-30 artichokes. This along with the two-count Season & Steam artichoke package ensures that retail partners are offering ease and convenience based on the shopper’s preferences.
“We have had an exciting spring season launching a marketing campaign that expresses so well the expertise and quality that the Ocean Mist Farms brand had been built on,” said Diana McClean, senior director of marketing at Ocean Mist Farms. “Our sales results tell us that trade partners and shoppers alike understand that our commitment to maintaining the gold standard in artichoke production equates to a superior quality and flavor that is hard to beat. And, of course, our shoppers have played a critical role in helping to identify their needs and address them through ongoing product innovations.”
The comprehensive results of the Reach for the Gold campaign were nearly 2 million brand impressions and over 140,000 confirmed shopper engagements in a one-month period. Ocean Mist Farms’ marketing efforts during this critical spring sales window resulted in increases in retail sales of 20–30 percent with various retailers throughout the United States.
Ocean Mist Farms is wrapping up a successful spring season by sharing the joy of artichokes with Castroville Artichoke Food & Wine Festival attendees as the main sponsor of their 60th annual event happening June 1–2 in Monterey, CA.
