What does the Super Bowl mean to consumers? Football, ramped-up advertising, beer and increasingly — food.

And that food hinges around a few items, including guacamole and other dips along with the requisite chips and veggies to plunge into them.

Savvy retailers and produce marketers are taking advantage of this to boost sales to hungry fans. 

The Super Bowl is the biggest occasion of the year for Avocados From Mexico, and Americans consume around 250 million pounds of product from the Dallas-based marketing organization in the four weeks leading up to the big day.

Guacamole, queso and salsa products from Yo Quiero, Rhome, Texas, also see a big sales bump for the Super Bowl.

“We have the top trilogy of dips, which is guacamole, salsa and queso,” says Tara Murray, vice president of marketing. The company also launched four cream cheese dips last summer that are a mixture of cream cheese and avocado with different flavors, such as Jalapeno Popper, Bacon Cheddar, Spinach Bacon, and Spinach Artichoke.

Avocados From Mexico starts its Super Bowl programming four weeks before the big game and offers what it describes as “360-degree media support,” which comprises the in-store experience, social media and a sweepstakes. 

This year the company is teaming up with football legend Deion Sanders and his fiancée — TV and film producer Tracey Edmonds — “to drive retailer and shopper excitement,” said Stephanie Bazan, vice president of shopper and trade marketing for Avocados From Mexico.

For the promo, Sanders offers a decadent, "Tasty Good" recipe featuring bacon, onion and cilantro, while Edmonds' guacamole is a simpler, lighter "Good Fat Delish" offering, made with lime juice and jalapeno. Fans scan a QR code to vote for their favorite in the "Tasty Good versus Good Fat Delish" showdown, beginning in January. Each voting customer is entered for a chance to win a grand prize of $100,000.

“We have this big campaign to really blanket those four weeks of in-store promotions,” Bazan said.

Cross-merchandising opportunities

Avocados From Mexico provides displays and merchandising to retailers and gives them the option of offering coupons or tying in additional digital assets. This allows Avocados From Mexico to be the merchandising anchor, but it says it likes complementary produce like tomatoes, onions and cilantro merchandised with them, “which creates more sales and increases the basket ring,” Bazan said.

“Shoppers are looking for ways to create in-home hosting experiences tied with guac, so the more the retailer can tie in around complementary items, the bigger the basket will be,” she added.

Cross-merchandising is very important, Bazan says, “and one of our objectives is to push beyond the produce area and find ways to be more present in the perimeter of the store. You can do perfect tie-ins with avocado reinforcing the fact that if you're going to make tacos, you have tortillas and meat nearby and can tie in the avocados.”

Yo Quiero likes to create a destination in stores in both the produce department and the dip category. “We offer a one-stop shop for consumers in the store, and we are a one-stop shop for retailers as well, so they don't have to call different suppliers,” Murray said.

Although the destination grouping is the best place for Yo Quiero's products, the company does like to cross-promote the products for the Super Bowl — with beer, chips and even hot dogs and hamburgers. 

Calavo Growers in Santa Paula, Calif., focuses on sales of whole avocados leading up to the big game. Ideally, says Peter Shore, vice president of product management, these avocados are displayed with other guacamole ingredients, including tomatoes and limes, “to make it easy for consumers to have everything nearby.” 

Guacamole reigns supreme for the big game, he says, though he also likes to include chili ingredients and fixings — onions, avocados and tomatoes — grouped together. “It can be an excellent way to cross-promote” these items, Shore said. He also likes to cross-merchandise displays of avocados throughout the store, especially near the chips, he added.

Promoting health

Yo Quiero's products focus on fresh to attract the younger demographic and to ensure they stay in the perimeter of grocery stores, which typically has more of a health halo than the aisles, according to the company.

“Research shows everyone is looking for clean labels, but they still want something tasty and something they know. We really tout that we use fresh cheeses, fresh vegetables and, anywhere we can, we take that label and make it as fresh and clean as possible,” Murray said.

In the produce department, Yo Quiero works with retailers to create fresh-cut cups. The company creates cups of its dips that match the look and feel of retailers' in-house cut-up veggies, so the two pair up and they both look house-made. 

“It's very lightly labeled and branded, but once you turn it over you see our brand,” Murray said. 

Timing is everything

Yo Quiero starts ramping up for the Super Bowl at the beginning of the football season, then boosts it in January, especially during the playoffs, with football posts online and kid-focused activities, the company said. 

It also touts its partnership with the Dallas Cowboys, which means it can use the team's name, logos and brand colors on products in retail locations in Texas as well as its website. The company also features recipes and videos to encourage consumers to buy dips. 

At Morton Williams Supermarkets in Manhattan and the Bronx, N.Y., avocados and fruit and vegetable platters see a jump in business leading up to the Super Bowl. Some stores also make in-house guacamole, said Marc Goldman, director of produce and floral, but they also create displays so consumers can easily grab what they need to make their own — avocados, tomatoes, lime and garlic. 

Goldman likes to procure his avocados in advance for the Super Bowl, since they sell so well, and he wants them to be ripe in the days leading up the game. He typically sells them singly, because shoppers like to carefully select them “and if they're as hard as a rock, that's not good,” he said, adding that most consumers are only shopping a day or two before the game.

Harmons, West Valley City, Utah, starts merchandising a week ahead for the Super Bowl and usually runs a two-day event on Super Bowl weekend. It offers displays of house-made guacamole and salsa, and sometimes avocados, and offers samples, said Robert Seegmiller, fresh produce sales director.

It's important to sell avocadoes at the correct ripeness, so Calavo encourages retailers to put some firmer ones out about a week before the big game for consumers who like to plan ahead, mingling some riper ones in with them. But the company says it likes retailers to merchandise ripe avocados, which will be ready to make guacamole in a day or two, in the days leading up the game.

Signage

Retailers often prefer to keep signage to a minimum, so Calavo says it doesn't offer that, but it does provide recipes, which retailers sometimes print out. More popular than those, however, are QR codes featured on the avocado bags. 

“A lot of people click on them, and when they do, it takes them to our website for information, serving suggestions and recipes,” Shore said.

To further up the ante for its 2022 promotion, Avocados From Mexico also will provide recipes for its two featured guacamole products. Consumers can scan a QR code, which “drives traffic to our website where consumers can either participate in the sweepstakes or the digital online experience with Deion or get recipes,” Bazan said. “It's a quick way for them to view that in-store.” 

Because Morton Williams stores are tight on space, Goldman doesn't run a lot of Super Bowl signage, though anything he does run typically hangs from the ceiling or above the display. 

It may be true that avocados almost sell themselves, but with a little helping hand, retailers and suppliers can see sales really kick off.