With the start of the table grape season in California, the California Table Grape Commission is undertaking a series of programs to promote the consumption of the state's crop of fresh grapes.According to most recent US Census data, Hispanics are the fastest growing minority group in the United States. Between 2000 and 2010, they made up more than half of the United States' population increase during that decade. Because of the group's growing importance, the California Table Grape Commission plans to target Hispanics this season.
“Hispanic purchasing power is 9.3 percent of U.S. purchasing power and it's expected to grow to 1.3 trillion dollars by 2015,” noted Karen Brux of the California Table Grape Commission. “For that reason, we'll engage in outreach and events in key Hispanic markets across the U.S. to reach this powerful demographic with key product, health and usage messages.”
Those events include editor dinners in restaurants of up and coming Hispanic chefs in Miami and Los Angeles, two cities with large Hispanic populations. The campaign will also include targeting the top 10 Hispanic markets throughout the nation with culturally relevant, in-language materials.
The Commission will also continue working with Food Network to reach target demographics. Since Food Network is popular with women between the ages of 25 and 54, the group responsible for most grape purchases, the Commission will run content across several Food Network properties.
“We'll have a number of chef-focused ads that will run on the Food Network channel,” said Brux. “In these ads, chefs from around the country talk about how and why they incorporate California grapes into their restaurant menus.”
That will complement online content as well as print ads with quick response codes that allow consumers to access content via their mobile phones. The campaigns are set to run for the duration of the table grape season which runs from May through December.