With national initiatives being created across the food industry to encourage more family meals, the Food Marketing Institute Foundation recently announced its 2023 Gold Plate Award winners, highlighting outstanding family meal programs and campaigns implemented by the food industry consisting of retailers, manufacturers and community collaborators.
In the category of “manufacturer, greenhouse fruit and vegetable company,” Pure Flavor won the Gold Plate Award for its “Together” campaign that supported FMI’s National Family Meals Month this past September, according to a news release.
“The Gold Plate Awards are a vivid celebration of the food industry's dedication to promoting family meals,” David Fikes, executive director of the FMI Foundation, said in the release. “Through diverse initiatives like healthy family meals, celebrating cultural cuisines and more, this award highlights the industry's unwavering commitment to fostering family togetherness at home.”
Pure Flavor’s Together campaign was strategically designed to bring awareness to the idea that, together, families can be as diverse and varied as the food that they share around their tables, the release said.
The theme of Cook Together — Eat Together — Grow Together was at the core of the promotional campaign this year, highlighting the importance of family meals by encouraging meal prep, family interaction and the consumption of fruits and vegetables, together.
Throughout the month-long omnichannel campaign, Pure Flavor executed the following:
- Dozens of fresh new recipes and promoted themed pins in Pinterest.
- Family-focused blog content on meal planning, time-saving and healthy hacks.
- Weekly Instagram Live sessions with an influencer partner.
- Collaborated with the teams at The Healthy Family Project and Produce Made Simple to create engaging content.
- Weekly emails reaching more than 50,000 people throughout the campaign.
- Published weekly “Did You Know?” Facts about family meals and related benefits.
- Content-specific consumer surveys with Instacart e-gift card as prizes, which more than 5,000 consumers completed during the campaign.
- Family-friendly activity sheets for kids of all ages.
“Our omnichannel approach garnered more than 1 million impressions across all our channels combined during our ‘Together’ campaign,” Chris Veillon, chief marketing officer, said in the release. “It further demonstrated that we were connected with the right people on the right channel at the right time with the right message. We are incredibly honored to receive FMI’s Gold Plate Award for the second year in a row for a strategic marketing campaign designed to help increase fresh produce consumption.”
2023 Gold Plate Award winners
- Category: Retailer 1-49 stores — Skogen’s Festival Foods.
- Category: Retailer 50-199 stores — K-VA-T Food Stores Inc. (Food City).
- Category: Retailer 200-plus stores — Hy-Vee Inc.
- Category: Community Collaborator — IFPA Foundation for Fresh Produce.
- Category: Supplier — Pure Flavor.
“Creating togetherness around mealtime has always been a goal for Healthy Family Project,” Tracy Shaw, senior digital marketing manager for Healthy Family Project, said in the release. “When we make it a priority to be together, we also tend to add more nutritious options to our plate, which helps create a healthier generation. We are honored to partner with Pure Flavor to encourage family meals together during National Family Meals Month and beyond. By showcasing highlights on our website as well as social media we can inspire our followers and their families to spend time together and make memories.”
For FMI Gold Plate Award Campaign Summaries, click here. To learn more about Pure Flavor or explore the company’s Live Deliciously eMagazine, click here.