California Table Grape Commission Connects with Hispanic Market

Many Hispanic households were celebrating the New Year with grapes. The California Table Grape Commission developed a media kit around a popular Hispanic New Year tradition—12 Uvas de la Suerte (12 grapes of luck)—and generated media coverage in Spanish-language television stations, newspapers and websites across the country. The 12 grapes of luck tradition involves eating 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve. In Spain, where the tradition originated in the late 1890’s, people eat a grape with each bell strike at midnight. Finishing all grapes by the last chime symbolizes a year of prosperity. “This popular tradition presented us the opportunity to talk about grapes from California with the top Spanish-language media across the U.S., and to remind them that grapes from California are still available,” says Kathleen Nave, president of the commission. The 12 Uvas de la Suerte story generated nationwide media coverage, including, but not limited to, La Opinion, the #1 Spanish language daily in the United States, and NotiMujer, a popular women’s program on CNN en Español that reaches over 5 million viewers. “The Hispanic market is already significant and continues to grow in size and purchasing power,” says Nave. “Recent figures in the Hispanic Business Magazine project U.S. Hispanic buying power to grow 48.1% to $1.6 trillion between 2011 and 2016. We look forward to better understanding how we can increase demand for grapes from California among this powerful demographic.” The California Table Grape Commission was created by the California legislature in 1967 to increase worldwide demand for fresh California grapes through a variety of research and promotional programs.