A wide-reaching digital marketing campaign helped lift UK sales of PDO Spanish Persimons in 2020/21 in spite of the shorter crop and Covid-related challenges.
Data from the regulatory council, Kaki de la Ribera del Xúquer, which controls the PDO certification for the fruit, shows that while some retailers sold fewer pieces of fruit than in the previous campaign, others saw a huge increase in sales.
Although the bulk of the promotional campaign took place online due to Covid restrictions, the label was able to carry out some in-store promotions such as shroud units, on-pack labels and recipe shelf tear-offs during Halloween and Bonfire Night.
“We even managed to run in-store Persimon carving during the week of Halloween, which led to a sharp rise in sales on the demo day,” says Pippa Moore of Red Communications, which runs the PDO’s UK marketing campaign.
Online activities included search sponsorships, branded banners and competitions with retailers.
Moore said the rise in online shopping meant that digital promotion was an essential part of the campaign.
“We collaborated with food writers and recipe creators who have generated content for our campaign platforms, as well as sharing on theirs, which achieved over 1m impressions throughout the season,” she told Fruitnet.
“There was also a big focus on reaching consumers at home through social media content, advertising and features recipes with BBC Good Food and editorial on digital magazines. We also targeted the trade through print advertorials, PR and digital advertising.”
