The Pear Bureau Northwest wants to wow you. The Milwaukie, Ore.-based non-profit marketing organization has been promoting, advertising and developing markets for fresh Oregon- and Washington-grown pears since 1931.
But how that body accomplishes its mission has progressed over the years. The way it operates today barely resembles the operation of even a decade ago, says Bob Catinella, the bureau’s East Coast marketing manager.
“It’s evolved to keep pace with the industry,” he says. The newest iteration should wow retail supermarket buyers nationwide when reps make calls this season.
“We are working with top retailers to present the pear category in a new way,” says Kathy Stephenson, director of marketing communications.
The Pear Bureau has always provided support with displays, ad circulars and in the development of the category with store data and scan data, she says.
But this year, the bureau is expanding its 360-degree marketing program.
“Our plan for the new crop year is to support the messaging of pear nutrition throughout the consumer interaction with the grocery store,” she says.
The Pear Bureau initiated the program last year with the 134 Schenectady, N.Y.-based Price Chopper supermarkets using point-of-sale materials, promotions, sampling, web page content, blogging and social media while working with the chain’s senior nutritionist and others.
Value-added meetings
Catinella says he and The Pear Bureau’s three other regional marketing managers are adding value, not just passing out POS materials when they call on supermarket buyers.
“We are going in with fact-based presentations, analyzing the category and analyzing our retailers’ business specifically against the rest of the market and against the rest of the country,” he says.
Many of the promotional programs they devise should have a special appeal to millennials, currently the nation’s hottest consumer segment.
“We know millennials like to be engaged in new food trends,” Catinella says, and pears offer ample opportunity for millennials to be creative. “Pears are really versatile.”
Pears also are conducive to cross merchandising with a variety of items, like cheeses, salad kits, berries and other seasonal fruits, he says. When retailers run ads, build attractive displays and tie in their pear promotions with social media, it “exponentially increases their sales.”
It’s not unusual for sales to double during a promotion period. The Pear Bureaucreates POS that links the digital piece, the nutritional piece and the display at store level and ties it all together for the consumer. Most produce suppliers and the retail community are in catch-up mode when it comes to maximizing “the whole social media piece,” Catinella says.
But he believes the Pear Bureau has a leg up under president and CEO Kevin Moffitt.
“We at USA Pears (the brand under which Northwest pears are marketed) are starting to carve the path and lead it, as far as the produce industry goes,” he says. “We’re constantly trying to develop multifaceted programs.”
Pear program
Last year, the pear bureau worked with the pear category manager and others at Price Chopper to put together a program promoted in ads and displays of USA Pears. Senior nutritionist Ellie Wilson was one of the individuals Catinella talked with about featuring pear facts and recipes that would tie in with in-store displays and ads.
“It’s really excellent to have a resource that is constantly developing recipes and resources for retail, both from a display point of view and an education point of view,” Wilson says.
The chain made a major promotional push in February for Heart Health Month. Stores featured a special logo with a red anjou pear, which is Heart Check certified by the American Heart Association, throughout the promotion.
Wilson wrote an article for the company’s e-health newsletter and used some of the content on the Price Chopper blog. The blog linked to pear bureau recipes, and the Price Chopper Facebook page and Twitter posts included links to the blog.
“We had some good results from all of those platforms,” she says.
Looking at all the platforms together, she says, “It’s a nice, really supportive energetic package.” Price Chopper also conducted a pear education day at its main office.
The program was a big success, Catinella says.
“What we saw from that last year, and we expect to see again this year, is people who are visiting the Price Chopper homepage and being engaged with them,” he says. “Our traffic online went through the roof during the time of that promotion.”
Coming events
“We are also supporting Halloween with fun pear ‘swaps’ — swapping pears for high-sugar snacks — and decorating materials for pears and encouraging dietitians to share healthy snacks with families in their stores,” she says.
The pear bureau also is planning a celebration for the USDA-designated World Pear Day — the first Saturday of December — to kick off National Pear Month.
“Finally, building off of success last season, we will put a strong push on Heart Health Month in February and National Nutrition Month in March,” she says.