California Avocado Tracking Study Indicates Strong Awareness and Preference for the Brand

On December 9, the California Avocado Commission presented highlights of its 2021 California Avocado Tracking Study to the CAC Marketing Committee. The report plays a critical role in helping the CAC Marketing team evaluate the impact of its marketing communications, measure marketing performance against established benchmarks and identify areas for improvement. Further, data compiled in the report is shared in retailer presentations to help secure interest in distributing California avocados.

Surveys for the study were fielded in August and September. The 1,447 people surveyed represented regions across the United States with an oversampling in California so the Commission could delve deeply into the region with the largest percentage of California avocado purchases. Results were reported for California, the Premium Californian consumer target market and by region (west, total non-west, central, south, northeast and total U.S.).

Overall, awareness of California as an avocado growing region has increased versus 2020 and California avocado ad awareness remains at the highest levels to date. Both region and ad awareness continue to be on par with Mexico.

California avocados are the favorite (ranked number one) in California and the Total West region. The Golden State fruit is perceived as the most premium, the best tasting, the freshest, and the safest. If given a choice, respondents indicated California was the preferred region for avocado purchases.

Respondents also indicated California avocados are worth paying more for and noted that safe, sustainable growing conditions— which they deemed important characteristics — are worth the price. In fact, respondents indicated safe growing conditions continue to be as important as taste. Those surveyed indicated that growers keeping the water supply safe is the biggest perceived sustainability advantage for California avocados.

Data indicated the importance of U.S.-grown produce and checking the fruit for the region where it was grown remain steady, but are not increasing. Thus, encouraging consumers to check the region an avocado is grown in remains an opportunity for differentiation. The biggest barrier to checking the region of the fruit was reported as price. When checking to see what region an avocado comes from, respondents say they most often relied on the fruit’s sticker.