MONTEREY, Calif. (Jan. 14, 2010) An apron-wearing, fork-wielding salad spokesperson and a 2,000-percent increase in Facebook followers are forever changing the face of the packaged salad category. And salad enthusiasts in the U.S. and Canada couldnt be happier.
Just months after launching its reinvented line of DOLE Salads, Dole Fresh Vegetables is stepping up its interactive marketing programs in the face of growing demand by bagged salad customers for salad-based conversations, contests, social marketing and other direct-to-consumer initiatives. The intensified strategy calls for an expanded role for the companys DOLE Salad Guide spokesperson, and increased use of Facebook and other programs designed to connect directly with salad users looking to broaden their salad horizons.
The newly expanded programs further strengthen Dole Fresh Vegetables produce industry leadership in social media, interactive and Web-based marketing.
While the retailer and customer response to the re-imagined DOLE Salads line has been strong overall, it is the digital and interactive elements of the campaign that have been the best received, explained Russell Evans, Dole Fresh Vegetables senior brand manager. Weve been overwhelmed by salad enthusiasts pent-up demand for salad-based conversations, recipe-sharing and inspiration. Its as if an entire population of salad lovers has been uncovered and given a new platform for expressing their salad creativity.
As part of its ongoing mission to get Americans eating salad again, and facing new evidence showing that Americans are less interested in salads at a time when the latest health research suggests they need them the most, Dole launched its reinvented bagged salad line designed to reignite the countrys fascination and consumption of fresh, prepackaged salads.
The re-envisioned DOLE Salads line arrived in supermarkets in the United States in October and in Canada in November as one of the most ambitious salad relaunches in history, complete with 32 separate blends and nine salad kits. Highlights of the redeveloped line include a new pinch-and-pull, Easy-Open salad bag; the DOLE Salad Guide, the first-ever on-pack rating of the taste and texture characteristics of each salad blend; and a new Pairs well with section featuring serving suggestions and a recipe unique to that blend.
The new line is being introduced via a comprehensive multimedia campaign featuring a new DOLE Salad Guide spokesperson, an all-knowing expert on salad tastes, textures and pairing possibilities. In addition to his role as the star of the DOLE Salads relaunch campaign, the DOLE Salad Guide spokesperson is featured on his own Facebook page dedicated to reaching retailers, salad enthusiasts and other influencers with an assortment of salad-, nutrition- and health-based messages.
The marketing campaign for DOLE Salads, one of the largest ever for Dole or the packaged salad category, will ultimate create more than 1.7 billion media impressions in the U.S. and Canada in the form of national TV, trade and consumer magazines, outdoor, digital and PR elements. DOLE Salads TV spots and news segments have aired during prominent network and cable TV shows, and during national and local morning shows nationwide.
Another 2.6 billion in-store impressions brings the total DOLE Salads campaign to in excess of 4.3 billion public impressions.
In addition to social media, the DOLE Salads interactive program encompasses a dedicated Web site; consumer contest; banner and display advertising on Hulu, Food Network, Recipe Zaar, Rachel Ray, All Recipes, Fine Cooking and other outlets; search marketing on Google, Yahoo and Bing; and a series of direct-to-consumer emails.
According to Evans, the campaigns success can best be seen in the growth of the social media elements. In less than 60 days, the number of Facebook fans that have signed up to receive daily communications from the DOLE Salad Guide has increased more than 2,000 percent, with hundreds more joining daily. Weve found that salad users want a more meaningful relationship with the DOLE brand one that can result in new salad recipes, serving suggestions, nutrition tips and even relationships with other salad connoisseurs. Clearly, the need for connection is strong and our customers seem even more eager to care about a brand like DOLE that has a history of caring for them.
Due to the popularity of the DOLE Salads social marketing programs, Evans said that the company has significantly increased its daily social media posts and tweets with salad enthusiasts. DGWB Advertising & Communications of Santa Ana, Calif., is responsible for the DOLE Salads relaunch campaign, including the digital and social media programs.
DOLE Salads is part of a larger commitment by Dole and the Dole Nutrition Institute to increase the nutritional health of Americans and work to reverse a number of negative health trends among them the growth of poor diet and inactivity as a leading cause of preventable death. Concurrent with these trends, researchers at Dole and elsewhere are rapidly discovering new compounds in fruits and vegetables that have the potential to prevent disease and extend life.
Source: Dole Food Company, Inc.
