Safeway Northern California Promotion Reaches More Than 23% Unit Sales Lift
In August, the California Avocado Commission sponsored a promotion with the Northern California division of Safeway that achieved more than a 23% lift in avocado unit sales compared to 2024. The theme was “California Avocados and Mangos – What A Pair!” and the event included California avocado and mango displays accompanied by posters showcasing locally grown in the Safeway stores. Safeway offered a digital coupon of $.50 off California avocados and one for mangos during the promotion period. To encourage expanded usage, one of their social media influencers created and shared a recipe combining both premium produce items that garnered nearly 600,000 views. The in-store touchpoints and coupons enticed shoppers when avocado retail pricing was above average, and Safeway reported that when consumers purchased both mangos and avocados together the lift hit 48%, far exceeding the produce director forecast.
CAC Promotes California Avocado Menu Promotions at Foodservice Conferences
To encourage demand and build loyalty to California avocados among targeted restaurant chains, the California Avocado Commission participated in two well-attended summer foodservice conferences in California. At the International Fresh Produce Foodservice Conference in Monterey and the 2025 Flavor Experience in Newport Beach, the CAC foodservice team engaged and networked with chain decision-makers (marketing, culinary/menu development executives and supply chain/purchasing) to encourage the chains to source California avocados during the season and promote fresh California avocados on their menus.
Both events provided access to key menu development and menu promotion decision-makers, including R&D/Product Innovation, Corporate Executive Chefs, Culinary Directors, Purchasing/Supply Chain and Marketing executives from national and regional foodservice chains. The CAC team interacted with them through on-site sampling of trend-forward dishes that demonstrated California avocados’ versatility in global cuisines, hot and cold applications and breakfast items. When sampling flavorful, creative dishes with California avocados as the focus, operators were reminded of the value California avocados bring to the menu, and how they can leverage the local, seasonal fruit as a menu advantage. The IFPA Foodservice in-booth sampling featured California Avocado Koreatown Kimchi Noodle Salad (pickled avocado, avocado as base in kimchi vinaigrette, diced avocados). At Flavor Experience, the CAC team served up California Avocado Mayak Salad, Cro-nut Danish, and California Avocado Chocolate Overnight Oats.
Consumer Media Audio Partnerships Drive High Reach and Engagement
In August the California Avocado Commission marketing program garnered especially strong performance from audio partnerships, including Spotify and iHeart Radio. Video ads on podcast and music platforms had an average of 97% completion rate (above benchmark rates) and drove a spike in store locator page visits that helped support late-season volume.
Key Highlights:
- Audio Partnerships with Spotify and iHeart Radio reached more than 3.5 million unique users in August
- Spotify video ads on podcast and music placements generated 18,000 clicks to the store locator page,with an average engagement time 13% above average
- iHeart podcast ads saw a 97.1% completion rate from 307,000 unique users
