Avocados From Mexico (AFM), the No. 1 selling avocado in the U.S., is charging into prime football season with Mexican category leader Old El Paso to capitalize on peak guacamole consumption. Running from January 4 to February 7, 2016, the Guac Nation program will offer a full spectrum of support to increase consumer avocado demand and consumption surrounding the traditions of in-home entertaining leading up to and celebrating the Big Game.

“The Big Game is a broad-reaching and influential at-home entertaining occasion that is relevant to both non-Hispanic and Hispanics.  Hosts of Big Game parties want to create an experience for guests with fun, simple foods and beverages,” said Alvaro Luque, president of AFM. “The Big Game ranks as one of the top occasions where avocados are served and guacamole is the No. 1 usage for avocados. Maximizing avocado exposure before the Big Game, Guac Nation will reinforce the relationship between guacamole and football to provide a unique shopper solution through our second annual partnership with Old El Paso.”

The campaign will be bolstered with a consumer sweepstakes, consumer savings and a digital media campaign that will leverage Catalina’s Buyer Vision platform allowing for targeting consumers via mobile devices with offers and coupons consequently increasing penetration, loyalty, frequency and basket size.  Guac Nation will also feature  in-store support such as a retail display contest, in-store radio and unique, in-store merchandising focused on its molcajete shaped bins. 

Along with in-store and online savings, consumers will be able to enter for a chance to win a variety of prizes. Two Grand Prize winners will enjoy a home theater system, 55” HD TV, wall mount, La-Z-Boy gift card and a one-year subscription to a TV sports or movie package. Additional prizes include outdoor cinema package and a Coolest Cooler. Retailers will also have the chance to win big when they join the Guac Nation and exercise their creativity at the store level.

In addition, Guac Nation will be expanded to Hispanic stores given that the Big Game has a strong relevancy with the Hispanic consumer. In fact, the Big Game ranks among the top three special occasions where avocados are served among Hispanics.

Guac Nation is an example of how Avocados From Mexico is using a total market approach at the shopper level. The program will have strong appeal to the Hispanic consumer base given the relevancy of the Big Game. In addition, we’ll be offering a coupon for shoppers to save $1 when they buy three Avocados From Mexico. This will further encourage consumers to include fresh ingredients in their Big Game dishes and snacks,” said Stephanie Bazan, market development director of AFM.

Culminating its association with football, AFM will be making a repeat appearance during the Big Game with a commercial spot set to run during the early part of the game. AFM’s decision last year to be the first fresh food commodity to advertise during the Big Game paid off extremely well with the commercial itself earning more than 1.6 billion impressions in one week. The spot was also ranked No. 2 on Adobe’s Second Screen top ten list, which is calculated by measuring key factors, such as total mentions, sentiment, big game buzz and spend efficiency of over 4 million social media mentions.