Wish Farms, a year-round grower-marketer of berries welcomed Florida bloggers to tour their blueberry packing operations and newest organic blueberry farm, Misty Organics.
The event began at a local restaurant, where the group dined on a customized menu. Each dish and cocktail featured Wish Farms’ blueberries in creative ways. The evening was a great kickoff to the tour, as the influencers discovered fun ways to incorporate blueberries into recipes, networked, as well as learning about the rich history of Wish Farms’ and its farming operations.
“Whether it’s the world of fashion, family, fitness or food, influencers are trending across the board. Consumers listen to influencers because they are tapped into the trends,” says Amber Maloney, Wish Farms’ Director of Marketing, “From a marketing perspective, we like to collaborate with these bloggers and Instagrammers because they convey our brand message in a subtle, organic way.”
The Misty Organics team (left to right): JC Clinard, Ryan Howard and Teddy Koukoulis
The following morning, the group was greeted by Wish Farms’ Director of Blueberry Operations and part owner of Misty Organics, Teddy Koukoulis. In addition to explaining their innovative farming practices, he led an informative Q&A session and taste test of seven varieties. The tasting also featured a yogurt parfait station that complimented the fresh berries with organic granola, cinnamon and local honey. The tour concluded with an enlightening look at the Wish Farms’ blueberry packing operation.
“It was an honor to visit and learn how blueberry farming is changing the needs and palates of today's consumers,” said Isabel Reis Lessig founder of the Sunday Supper Movement, “we all loved spending the day in the field and processing plant learning about the different varieties of blueberries and how they go from the farm to their family tables.” Not only did she coordinate the effort to share Wish Farms with the blogger community, she was able to expose Wish Farms to a larger audience through social media and the #BerryFunny Contest. Each week, a new blueberry joke was featured for consumers to respond to. Along with their response, they were asked to tag friends, which made them eligible to win the weekly or grand prize.
“The partnership was a resounding success. Along with the boost from the contest, influencers flooded social media with stories, posts and live videos. Our Facebook page achieved the milestone of over 200,000 page likes and we increased Instagram followers by over 20 percent,” Maloney said. “We are pleased that we are reaching our goal to engage with a large national audience of berry lovers.”
For more information:
Nick Wishnatzki
Wish Farms, Inc.
Tel: +1 (813) 752-5111, ext. 5068