For a fifth consecutive year, Avocados From Mexico is planning another advertising touchdown at the Super Bowl. The lineup includes a second-quarter, 30-second spot that keeps with the brand’s current celebrity-focused, humor-driven approach. After kicking off the “always worth it” campaign from Energy BBDO, the brand’s new creative agency, the drive will then continue throughout the year.
According to Avocados From Mexico, Super Bowl Sunday is by far the biggest day for avocado consumption in America. They import over 200 million pounds of avocados into the United States from Mexico in the month leading up to the game.
A recent Ad Age article quoted Avocados From Mexico President Alvaro Luque as saying: “(Our campaign is) a nice combination of sales and brand building.”
Some would wonder why an avocado brand would need to advertise during the Super Bowl game each year considering that people are already consuming a football field worth of chips and guac in one sitting. However, based on the popularity of avocado toast and the addition of this tasty green fruit in countless dishes, it’s clear that people are consuming avocados in record numbers.
According to the USDA, avocado consumption per capita has increased 443 percent in the 20 years between 1995 and 2015 from 1.6 pounds to 7.1 pounds. The U.S. reached an all-time high of 7.5 pounds in 2017 with totals for 2018 at 7.47 pounds, according to Statista.
Avocados From Mexico has tripled the volume of avocados that the company brings into the United States in the past seven years. In previous years, the advertising strategy involved teasers for the Super Bowl commercial well before gameday both to get people to stock up for the big game but also to keep avocados in the spotlight throughout the winter months.
“Before we were advertisers in the Super Bowl, we had an issue because after the date, usually, the sales went down pretty fast. Now it’s been a very, very good month for us in sales,” Ad Age quoted Luque as saying.
Early Super Bowl spots for Avocados From Mexico highlighted year-round availability with 2015’s “First Draft Ever” and 2017’s “Avocados In Space” campaigns. In 2016 the brand showcased good fat with “Secret Society,” and versatility “Guacworld” in 2018. The 2019 campaign is rolling those ideas together and the new “always worth it” messaging, which does have a price element to it.
According to the Hass Avocado Board, a group that promotes U.S. avocados, the average sales price per conventionally-grown avocado as of the first week of December 2018 was $1.22, which is up from $1.03 a year earlier. Despite any yearly or seasonal fluctuations in pricing, consumers are clamoring for this favorite green fruit and are even willing to pay extra for it. After interviewing more than 3,000 people, Avocados from Mexico, the marketing arm of the Mexican Hass Avocado Importers Association, found that diners are willing to pay upwards of $2 to add avocado to a restaurant meal.
A Minor Hiccup
Avocados From Mexico’s announcement of their return as an advertiser to the Super Bowl follows on the heels of an October 2018 strike at avocado orchards in the Mexican state of Michoacán. The two-week strike stemmed from disputes over produce from other parts of Mexico coming into the state, the only one with a current agreement to export avocados to the United States. Despite any temporary setbacks with the strike, or subsequent talks about future sourcing from other regions, Avocados From Mexico stated that the vast majority of its regular supply of avocados is en route to the U.S. and is poised to meet demand in time for Super Bowl.
The 2019 Kickoff
Avocados From Mexico tested five options of their 2019 Super Bowl ad from EnergyBBDO with consumers, which Luque claims all scored equally as high as the brand’s previous years’ spots.
Whichever version makes the draft, there is likely another celebrity appearance following Doug Flutie and Jerry Rice, Scott Baio, Jon Lovitz, and Chris Elliott from 2015-2018, respectively. Gameday is the big reveal for the ad and the likely celebrity that goes along with it.
Along with the exposure on television, Super Bowl Sunday has become a robust digital day for the brand. In 2018, Avocados From Mexico was the most mentioned advertiser on social media the day of the game, according to data released in February of the same year by Salesforce Marketing Cloud.
In addition to Energy BBDO, other agencies on the 2019 Avocados From Mexico campaign include Richards Lerma for digital, Havas on media and Ketchum on PR.
