• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, July 12, 2017

Continuing the aggressive branding push it launched last fall, fresh berries producer Driscoll’s is running a summer campaign focused on heightening its brand awareness, loyalty and sales in the nation’s top berry-loving markets.

Like Avocados from Mexico, Halo mandarin oranges and others before it, Driscoll’s is out to achieve a very difficult and costly marketing objective: Differentiating one produce brand from another in consumers’ minds. 

Last year, Driscoll’s introduced a unified visual identity system, including updated packaging, across North America, Europe, Australia and China. It also redesigned its website, moving from a recipe-focused approach to educating consumers about why its all non-GMO berries truly are different. (For example, it maintains its quality standards for strawberries in part by choosing the top 1% of berries from among thousands of its patented varieties.)

The brand, whose motto is “Only the Finest Berries,” also introduced a group of researchers, breeders, agronomists and scientists, dubbed “Joy Makers,” to explain the brand’s differences. And it pumped up its Facebook, Twitter and Instagram marketing as well as the content on its YouTube channel.  

All of which was backed and inspired by a national survey that found, among other insights, that 85% of consumers say that eating berries makes them happy — a higher percentage than for any other fresh fruit or vegetable. A video summarizing those results has drawn nearly 1.2 million views on YouTube in the 10 months it’s been posted. 

“These national berry consumer insights provide a platform to create a movement with our brand advocates centered around the fun and emotional satisfaction of eating and sharing berries,” sums up Frances Dillard, director of marketing and Driscoll’s global brand lead. 

The new summer campaign, #BerryTogether, includes live events in the top 10 U.S. berry-consuming markets, as identified through Nielsen sales data, combined with a social media-driven sweepstakes. 

The theme is “Berries are better when shared together,” and Minneapolis/St. Paul — the No. 3 overall berry-consuming and No. 1 raspberry-consuming market — was the first stop.

Last month, the brand set up a 3D experiential art installation (above) in which people needed to cooperate to win fresh berry rewards. A video of the activities (below), from digital agency Hand Crank, is featured on the campaign area of the Driscoll’s site, as well as its YouTube and other social channels. That video, which has been supported by paid social advertising, pulled more than 80,000 views on YouTube in its first week.

Driscoll’s also has been hosting berry varietal tastings in the Twin Cities, and partnered with retailers on events where shoppers can meet the “Joy Makers.” Light-rail transit cars in the market have been wrapped with Driscoll’s brand advertising, and ads will also run in Minnesota Monthly magazine in the coming months, the brand tells Marketing Daily. 

Driscoll’s plans to take the installation and run similar events in other berry-loving markets.

To reach the national audience, the brand is simultaneously hosting sweepstakes. Consumers who share photos of berry-eating occasions on Instagram or Twitter with the #BerryTogether hashtag earn chances to win a family vacation to California. The photos can be viewed in a gallery on the site.