CASTROVILLE, Calif. – March 7, 2016 – Spring is the beginning of peak artichoke season and Ocean Mist Farms is supporting sales with multiple activities designed to generate awareness for the company’s fresh artichokes.
Peak volume of the Castroville crop is March through May, said Diana McClean, director of marketing, and this year most Ocean Mist Farms’ artichokes will carry branded petal inserts to help consumers find them in store.
“During peak season we activate a strong promotional strategy that includes display and sales contests with Northern California retailers, radio ads in Northern California, a nationwide new product launch featuring cleaned and ready to cook fresh artichokes in our award-winning Season & Steam packaging,” McClean said. “This year we are excited to target Millenials with a consumer contest.
“Research shows that some people are intimidated by eating artichokes – but not the adventurous at heart. Our new consumer contest, Be an Artichoke Adventurer, is designed to help people overcome their artichoke fears, by encouraging them to be bold and adventurous. We want to encourage people, specifically Millennials, who have never tried or prepared a fresh artichoke to do so. At the same time, we want to celebrate our loyal fans by allowing them to show off their artichoke culinary know-how.”
From March 20 to April 16, home cooks will be asked to upload a picture or video of themselves preparing or eating a fresh artichoke for a chance to win a trip for two to Monterey California including tickets to the Annual Castroville Artichoke Food & Wine Festival, June 4-5.
“We are engaging with people who love to cook,” McClean said. “Whether you’ve been a fresh artichoke fan for years, or have never cooked or eaten one, we want to see what you create.”
Ocean Mist Farms will also leverage the more than 60,000 artichoke fans who are now members its Artichoke Club to communicate information about the contest as well as retail promotions throughout the peak season.
“We are looking forward to a strong season with good volume throughout the spring months of March through the artichoke festival in June,” McClean said.
