Jun 11 2008

340 Million Pound California Avocado Crop Forecast Up Thirty-one Percent Over Last Year

Irvine, Calif. (June 11, 2008) – With summer just around the corner and the prime California avocado season underway, the California Avocado Commission (CAC) has launched the most wide-reaching consumer media campaign in the Commission’s history.

“We’re forecasting 340 million pounds for the 2008 California avocado harvest, which is an increase of 81 million pounds versus the 2007 season,” said CAC director of industry affairs, Guy Witney. “While this estimate is slightly lower than the pre-season forecast, there’s an abundance of outstanding fruit in the market. From a quality perspective this year’s California avocado crop is one of the best I’ve seen in the last decade; it’s perfect timing for the California Avocado Grower campaign message to encourage avocado consumption.” For the first time ever, CAC is advertising via national television. Commercial spots on The Food Network feature California Avocado grower Carl Stucky and the new “Hand Grown in California” messaging. CAC is reaching its target audience of men and women through media vehicles that inspire their meal choices.

CAC is also advertising in top culinary and home magazines, reaching key shoppers interested in cooking and home entertaining. National publications include Bon Appétit, Every Day with Rachael Ray, Taste of Home, Saveur, Everyday Food, Eating Well, and Cooking with Paula Deen. In highly developed avocado markets CAC will add additional media weight via ads in magazines such as Cooking Light and House Beautiful. The ads feature the personal stories of various California Avocado growers to help consumers link the avocados they enjoy with the families who grow them.

Augmenting the penetration of the California Avocado Grower campaign, CAC is utilizing internet advertising on Food.com, Univision.com, and more than 60 food-related Web sites in the Google network. This virtual advertising reaches food-savvy adults 24 hours a day. Influential consumers who enjoy cooking and entertaining are also CAC’s target for a variety of sponsored consumer events, including Share Our Strength Taste of the Nation in Los Angeles, the Snapple Big Apple Barbecue Block Party in New York City, as well as Everyday Food cooking classes at Viking Cooking school and Saveur cooking schools in markets across the country.

In core avocado markets California Avocado Grower radio ads as well as outdoor advertising on billboards and transit shelters near retail grocery locations remind potential shoppers of the campaign messages when and where they are likely to shop. Transit ads on the Bay Area’s Rapid Transit (BART) system will spread the word to commuters, and in San Francisco and Los Angeles many health-conscious consumers will see California Avocado Grower posters while they exercise in their fitness centers.

In case all those busy commuters, health-conscious consumers and food-savvy shoppers in core avocado markets walk into the supermarket without their grocery list, CAC is placing the California Avocado Grower story right at the store level with bold floor graphic ads, shopping cart signs, and California avocado display bins designed to encourage impulse purchases of fresh California avocados.

“This unprecedented media mix delivers 830 million targeted impressions, achieving deep penetration of the target market for California avocados,” said Jan DeLyser, vice president of marketing for CAC. “We’re reaching consumers around the clock, nearly everywhere they go with a call to action to insist on California avocados.”

About the California Avocado Commission
Created in 1978, the California Avocado Commission strives to increase demand for California avocados through advertising, promotion and public relations, and engages in related industry activities that benefit the state's 6,000 avocado growers. The California Avocado Commission serves as the official information source for California avocados and the California avocado industry.