Monthly Luncheon – January 15, 2010

Innovative, Customer-centric Marketing Equals Reinvention of Dole Packaged Salad

Faced with a product category seeing flat sales and Americans increasingly making unhealthy food choices, Dole Fresh Vegetables Inc. needed to grow the category and wanted to improve people’s health by giving them high-quality, high-flavor salads.   These circumstances led to Dole’s ambitious ‘reinvention’ of their packaged salads.

It started with more than a year of extensive consumer research.  The research found several consumer behaviors that would ultimately guide their direction, two of which are: 1) people often won’t buy packaged salads at all if a store is out of a specific blend the person is looking for and 2) consumers often prepare salads in the same way each time they eat it and don’t often experiment with adding new ingredients or trying new blends.  Armed with the findings, the company set out to change the product, the message, and the marketing, resulting in all 32 of Dole’s salads and nine salad kits being redesigned.

How did Dole do it?  According to the company, the program incorporated new packaging and merchandising built around how consumers shop the section, a wide range of new products and categories to increase purchase frequency, mainstream advertising to drive consumers to the aisle, value enhancing national and customer-specific promotions, and identification of 21 salad-friendly markets to increase awareness (among them, Cincinnati).  Traditional and contemporary marketing tools were employed to unveil the program, including TV and print ads, online and digital promotions, social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter.

CarrieAnn Arias, Sr. Marketing Manager, Dole Fresh Vegetables, joins us in January to discuss the strategic and tactical elements that went into delivering this award-winning product re-launch.  She’ll touch on the stages of the process from realization of the needed change, research and discovery, marketing components, the launch and the early results. She has been in Sales and Marketing for the past 12 years, currently employed at Dole Fresh Vegetables.

As a Senior Marketing Manager, she is leads the team responsible for the marketing of Dole Vegetables, Packaged Salads and Strawberries for the United States and Canada. Her primary focus is working with regional, national and international retail chains to develop and execute marketing plans, promoting Dole products. She has partnered with other national brands such as Kraft, Hormel, Pepsi Co., Ford Motor Company, Coca-Cola, Disney and American Idol to create multi-million dollar marketing campaigns.

In 2008, she worked with the Produce for Kids organization to develop and conduct a consumer research study on marketing fresh produce to moms and children. Most recently, she played an integral role in the re-launch of the Dole Fresh Vegetables Packaged Salad line.

When:
Friday, January 15, 2010

Where: NEW LOCATION!!
Cintas Center at Xavier University
1624 Herald Avenue
Cincinnati, OH 45207
Directions

You can park in Lot C next to the Cintas Center.  No parking voucher is needed.

Time:
11:30 am – 12:00 – Registration & Networking
12:00 – 1:15 pm – Lunch and program

Cost:
AMA Members
$30 for Reservations made by January 12
$35 for Reservations made after January 12
AMA Student Members – $10

Non-Members
$45 for Reservations made by January 12
$50 for Reservations made after January 12