The first annual Best of SPS Marketing Awards, presented by The Packer, were awarded at the 2021 Sustainable Produce Summit. The awards recognized excellence in the categories of websites, social media, packaging, and food waste messaging.
The goal of these new awards is to showcase how companies are using different tactics to tell their general sustainability stories, and also how they're communicating about their efforts to combat food waste.
Website
Best of SPS Website Winner - Pure Flavor
Pure Flavor received the Best of SPS Award for the website that best communicated sustainability practices. Its website is filled with bright, colorful graphics that are not only aesthetically pleasing, but are also informative, award organizers said. The sustainability process is complex and Pure Flavor has found a way to simplify it and make the information more digestible to consumers, according to organizers.
Travis Fauteux, marketing coordinator for Pure Flavor, said, "Sharing sustainability benefits of greenhouse grown produce is something that we are passionate about. In terms of strategy, all of our website really begins with a strategy we call I.C.E. (inform, connect and engage. If you visit any of our landing pages, including the new Greenhouse Grown landing page that we just launched ... you will see all those aspects.
"It is really important that we connect with consumers on an emotional level by pairing all that technical, bulletpoint information with relatable lifestyle (products)," Fauteux said.
Pure Flavor's website also offers a variety of content, such as videos, photos, downloadables, lifestyle blogs, recipes, influencer posts and digital magazines.
Packaging
Best of SPS Packaging Winner - Pete's/Hollandia Produce
Pete's/Hollandia Produce won the award for best packaging with a sustainability focus. Pete's puts its sustainability story front and center on its packaging. The eye-catching, bright colors of the packaging draw attention, award organizers said.
Its packaging showcases what makes the product sustainable in easy-to-digest graphics.
"We are employee-owned and operated so we all have a stake in the game. This planet stuff is personal. That's why we are committing 1% of Greenhouse Fresh sales to improving the recycling system in conjunction with the Recycling Partnership," the Pete's website states.
Photo courtesy Pete's/Hollandia Produce
Social Media
Best of SPS social media winner - Equifruit
Equifruit won the award for best social media with a sustainability focus. The company also received an honorable mention for best website.
Equifruit's social media presence is "targeted toward millennials and gen z," said Kim Chackal, director of sales and marketing. The company's campaigns are chock-full of cheeky and entertaining pop-culture references, award organizers said.
"We had this opportunity last year to do a full re-branding and we worked with this agency in Montreal called TUX," Chackal said. "We said, look we have been doing Fairtrade bananas for about 13 years and we are incredibly passionate about it, but we'll tell people about why fair trade matters and we watch peoples eyes glaze over. So we became fiercely obsessed with becoming impossible to ignore. We want you to be captivated by what we are saying; we took this long-standing complex economic module and we dwindled it down to simple messages, like: Why Fairtrade? Farmers gotta get paid.”
Check out Equifruit's Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram profiles.
Food waste messaging
Best of SPS food waste messaging winner - Bobalu Berries
Bobalu Berries received the award for best food waste messaging. The company's messages are simple and straightforward, engaging and have high production value, according to award organizers.
One example of a recent food waste campaign created by Bobalu Berries shows how to freeze your berries and use them for a variety of recipes, such as boozy popsicles, strawberry simple syrup, strawberry salads and more. Check out all the recipes here.
"They are able to use every single berry," said Cindy Jewell, marketing consultant for Bobalu Berries. "Instead of just saying, freeze your berries, we are providing recipes, trying to take the story from the farm to know you at home can make sure you are preserving every berry," Jewell said.
The company also offers a downloadable Food Waste eBook.