2025 Marketing Plan to Focus on Retail Expansion and Strengthening Consumer Preference
With a 400-million-pound California avocado crop projected for the upcoming season the California Avocado Commission’s 2025 Marketing Plan will focus on strengthening its core markets, expanding retail and foodservice partnerships and capitalizing on successful consumer advertising and public relations platforms.
Prior to building the 2025 plan the Commission Marketing team analyzed results from 2024 partnerships and programs as well as consumer research. The 2024 California Avocado Tracking Study indicated many good things, including that in the California market the California brand is rated higher than any other brand on key quality and brand perceptions, including sustainability perceptions. The study also showed that targeted consumers are still interested in learning about sustainability, suggesting that the current advertising messaging is on target. However, in 2024 there were slippages in unaided brand awareness and in consumer preference for the brand. Addressing these downward trends will be a key part of the 2025 marketing effort.
CAC is developing a consumer advertising and PR plan to strengthen brand awareness and preference with the targeted audience. The plan is being built on data-driven insights from the 2024 season and will be expanding more into connected TV (CTV) with ads on streaming platforms following a successful test and learn activation during the 2024 season. In addition, CAC will expand its regional PR activations and launch a new “come shop with me” influencer program with key customers. The Commission will continue to showcase California avocados, California avocado growers and groves in its consumer advertising with a new evolution of its creative assets. Key messaging will remain focused on the fruit being locally grown and sustainably farmed. Consumer public relations will supplement the advertising with targeted media outreach and activations that support retail partners.
The media program goal is to increase year-over-year consumer media impressions by at least 9% (from 164 million last season to 179 million for the 2024-25 season) and the PR goal is to increase impressions by 25% (from 75 million in 2023-24 to 93.75 million in 2024-25).
To build out its retail expansion plan and secure distribution for the robust 2025 California avocado crop, Marketing Vice President Terry Splane brought together a cross-functional team to design an integrated plan. The plan includes incremental support for the larger crop with expanded retail and foodservice customized marketing services for existing partners, while also strategically increasing net new customers. Key measures for 2025 will include at least 10 retail activations with targeted new or lapsed customers and at least two food service partnerships with new operators or those with whom CAC has not collaborated within the last two years.
To support both the larger volume of fruit and expand brand awareness and preference, the Commission will host key retail and foodservice decision makers and targeted media members at a California avocado grove tour where they will learn more about the locally grown fruit, the projected crop, CAC’s promotional resources and California farming practices.
