AVOCADO GROUP RESETS MARKETING FOCUS

AMY I. STICKEL

SANTA ANA, Calif. -- The California Avocado Commission here has restructured its merchandising focus for the 1995-96 season, by turning its ad incentives over to product handlers, and working to convince retailers to display ripe and unripe avocados together.

"The comprehensive marketing plan is reflective of grower concerns to maximize efficiencies," Mark Affleck, president of the commission, said in a statement. "Based on their input, we fine-tuned our programs to maximize strengths of the entire industry, and shifted feature ad promotional incentives to handlers since they are directly connected to the sale."

Spokeswoman Kari Bretschger said the commission previously administered the ad incentives. "It makes sense to give it to the handlers," she told SN, referring to the third-party distributors who receive products from growers and deliver them to retailers.

Under the new system, those avocado distributors will be better able to help retailers plan avocado promotions, if they directly control the ad incentives, she said.

Handlers will also be given increased responsibilities for direct contact with retailers and for negotiating merchandising and promotional efforts.

The commission will continue to run umbrella promotions during different times of the year, Bretschger said. The first promotion kicks off this month and focuses on football, building up to next month's Super Bowl.

A new promotion for the commission in 1996 will focus on March Madness, the college basketball playoffs, she added.

The group plans a Cinco de Mayo promotion during April and May, with a radio promotion in the works. It also has scheduled a salad tie-in for the summer.

The marketing focus at the store level will shift this year to a stronger emphasis on ripened avocados, according to Affleck.

"We developed a program called 'RIPEMax' to educate and provide incentives for retailers to display ripe and unripe fruit together for maximum sales," Affleck said. The new program builds on RIPE, which has been the commission's existing retail program to encourage the sale of ripened, rather than unripened, avocados.