CASTROVILLE, Calif. (June 16, 2020) – Ocean Mist Farms, the leading grower and marketer of fresh artichokes in the U.S., conducted its annual Gold Standard spring promotion from April 13 – May 13 this year to elevate the health and nutrition of their famous Gold Standard artichokes. This promotion was launched during a nation-wide shut down due to COVID-19, an uncertain time that still remains. Yet despite these circumstances, the promotion yielded incredible results.
Consumer response to the Gold Standard promotion proved shoppers were receptive to and eager to engage with helpful and entertaining content. Ocean Mist Farms earned a total of 23,000,000 brand impressions and 545,000 promotion-specific website visits, while over 28,000 shoppers participated in the sweepstakes opportunity. As a result, when looking at year-over-year artichoke sales volume for the 4-week Gold Standard promotion period, we see an increase 3.6% for the 2020 season.
“We questioned if now was the right time to run this annual promotion,” said Diana McClean, senior director of marketing at Ocean Mist Farms. “Because of the tremendous consumer following we’ve developed that relies on Ocean Mist Farms, we wanted to not only encourage consumers to purchase artichokes for their health benefits, but to also assure them that the produce they are purchasing is of the highest quality.”
With this promotion and our other marketing efforts to shoppers during the nation-wide shut down, we have seen above average performance confirming that people do look to fresh produce brands for information and inspiration. Whether it be a welcome of news related to how to keep their produce fresh or different ways to spice up their dinner routine, we’re finding a new, more engaged audience during this time.