Top 3 Fresh Summit Tweets

This year’s Fresh Summit Convention and Expo in Anaheim, Calif. had 21,000 attendees from 61 countries come to discuss new ideas, listen to panels, try products and rub elbows.

Many attendees took advantage of the Twitter hashtag #FreshSummit to share show observations. Here are three tweets that embodied some of the big trends discussed at the conference.

Study found a #smile can increase children's fruit & veggie consumption.#freshsummit (seems like a win-win to me!)

— Kim Kirchherr (@kkdietitian) October 27, 2012

In this tweet, Jewel-Osco dietitian Kim Kirchherr calls attention to a children’s marketing study, but the study was just one example of the show’s emphasis on younger consumers. The industry wants to promote fresh fruits and vegetables in a way that’s more appealing to children. Fresh Summit introduced its “Just 4 Kids” showcase for children’s package design, which included products with colorful designs that were also easy to eat on the run.

B Happy Online Marketers! Nearly every company I spoke to at #FreshSummit has plans to use #SocialMedia in some capacity in 2013. #SMM #SEO

— Lori Barber (@MissLoriBarber) October 29, 2012

With the growing influence of social media, many education sessions discussed just how to talk to consumers in this sphere. In the session “"Beyond Branding: Leveraging Social Media to Drive Sales," Carisa Miklusak of tMedia Strategies said it’s a myth that you can’t sell in social media. She stressed that it’s important for brands to listen on social media first, and then figure out who their target audience is, where they talk, and what they talk about.

The future of business is pure chaos #freshsummit twitter.com/dmcgurgan/stat…

— Dave McGurgan (@dmcgurgan) October 30, 2012

PMA hammered home the message that the future of produce is going to require industry change. President and CEO Bryan Silbermann even predicted that in the year 2022, change will be business as usual. Instead of the usual State of the Industry address, Silbermann brought in a panel of industry experts to talk about just how the industry will look in 2022. The Fresh Summit show itself even changed shape. The four-day show was consolidated into three days, with all the education sessions on “Future Focused Friday,” October 26. 

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