Let's face it: Avocados are intimidating. Well, maybe not to those who grew up knowing the creamy texture and savory taste of avocado toast in the morning. But research shows that 73 percent more consumers would be willing to purchase the little green fruit if they knew how to pluck the choicest ones from produce bins, ripen them at home, and preserve them after the initial use. And that lack of education has become a bit of a fence line for Avocados From Mexico (AFM), the marketing arm of the Mexican Hass Avocados Importers Association and The Association of Growers and Packers of Avocados From Mexico, which is always looking to grow its consumer base. Busting through that fence and spilling into greener orchards meant AFM needed a marketing campaign that educated bushels of grocers and distributors about ways they can help hesitant consumers overcome their concerns at the point of purchase.

Luckily, AFM, which represents an impressive 83 percent of the market share of avocados in the United States, is known for innovative campaigns. In 2017, AFM took home a Sizzle Award for its debut of the Avo-Matic, a seemingly robotic shipping-container-cum-vending-machine that served made-to-order, avocado-centric meals with the help of embedded touchscreens. The marketing group has also recently been named one of the most innovative brands to work for by Fast Company, alongside such giants such as Google and Amazon. "Since we launched the company seven years ago, we have been committed to doing things differently through innovation that goes beyond the produce aisle," says Alvaro Luque, CEO of AFM. "We've taken a single SKU [Stock Keeping Unit] without packaging and created a highly visible brand."

AFM took that same innovative spirit to the 2019 Produce Marketing Association's Fresh Summit Convention and Expo in Anaheim, CA, where it looked to yield a crop of new consumers and make sure the United States' love for all things avocado raged on. To achieve its goal, AFM needed to first give its booth a makeover with a new look and fresh experiences to avoid becoming stale by offering the same encounters from previous shows. Doing so, it hoped, would earn the attention of showgoers long enough to provide them with the educational content they could use to mitigate shoppers' concerns in grocery stores' produce aisles.

The firm tasked IMW Agency, an integrated-marketing firm that crafts AFM's trade show events, with addressing those needs. One might assume, based on past promotional campaigns such as the Avo-Matic and its Super Bowl ads, that AFM was willing to throw bushels of money into refitting its booth and achieving its education initiative, but the reality was far different.

"AFM represents thousands of growers, and we are constantly reminded that budgets are lean with high expectations for impressive results," says Irene Cabañas, vice president of experiential marketing at IMW. That meant that Cabañas and her team needed to be diligent bean counters while helping AFM achieve its goals of growing booth traffic by 10 percent compared to 2018 and keeping attendees rooted for at least 15 minutes. (And considering that Fresh Summit is only two days long, getting visitors to stay put for long was going to be a tall task.)

Avoiding Pit-falls
With its agency's help, AFM decided to save some green by reusing many of its existing booth elements. "In the past, we've relied heavily on copy on the walls and lots of imagery to project the value AFM brings to customers," Cabañas says. "This year, we recommended that AFM streamline the look and feel of the booth and let the programs do the talking with video."
To that end, the firm revamped its graphics and created a clean, white setting with vibrant accent colors and a fraction of the graphic messaging from previous years. At the same time, the company got to work producing new video content that would appear throughout the exhibit and convey more detailed messaging.

The firm still needed to develop a key traffic builder that would build excitement and entice more prospects to engage with its exhibit. A more conservative organization likely would have felt comfortable trotting out the successful Avo-Matic experience that had garnered so much positive attention in the past, but AFM isn't one to let a fruit ripen and rot on the branch. "We are living in unprecedented times that require brands and companies to think outside the box, stretch their imaginations, encourage their creative thinking, and strengthen their power to reinvent and push the boundaries of their industries," Luque says. "At AFM, we have been committed since the very beginning to doing things differently through innovation and being category leaders." So again looking to save dollars while drumming up that new encounter, the team decided to revamp the Avo-Matic's shipping container with a consumer adventure that revolved around guacamole – the No. 1 way that consumers enjoy avocados.

The idea for the Guac Experience went through several iterations, but what finally sated AFM's appetite was a low-tech slot-machine game where players pulled a lever to spin three wheels of real avocados. IMW contracted with Acme Made in America Inc. to help produce the game and reoutfit the shipping container, but challenges soon sprung up like weeds. Every cut and drill hole that goes into a shipping container affects the structure's integrity, so the new concept needed to accommodate the four existing windows created for the Avo-Matic. "The exterior needed to be the new experience, but we wanted to keep as many of the interior elements intact as possible," Cabañas says. After removing the touchscreens at each of the windows, the team added a wall that divided the width of the structure in half, with the new kitchen hidden from view and running along the back length of the container. "In my early life, I did some work with Disney, which is all about the magic," Cabañas says. "So in every program that I produce, I always try to hide the messy work and create a clean experience for the audience."

But conjuring up the magic sometimes requires some unexpected sweat and labor, as Cabañas knows only too well. Less than three weeks before the show, IMW and AFM gave their new experience a test run. However, the contraption turned out to be clunkier than anticipated – e.g., the slot machine's handle didn't engage correctly, and the three avocado wheels were stuck in low gear. The whole thing needed to be revamped, so IMW axed the analog affair and whipped up a high-tech video solution. The 11th-hour changes were made to the satisfaction of all involved, and the booth was shipped off to the venue.

Guac the World
Attendees approaching the 50-by-50-foot exhibit were undoubtedly attracted to the corner of the space, where the 8-by-20-foot shipping container had been trategically placed for maximum exposure. The predominately white enclosure featured a purple geometric border along the bottom, and graphics of avocados and plates of guacamole proved an appetizing touch. Atop the 9.5-foot-tall structure, 3-D avocado-green letters and an avocado cutout branded the station as the Guac Experience. Meanwhile, neon-lit lettering above the four aisle-facing windows spelled out "Guac it," "Get it," "Top it," and "Win it."
Eager for their own guac encounter, visitors hustled to the end of the rapidly growing line that wrapped around to the back of the container. Not willing to waste the approximately 15 minutes many attendees spent in line, AFM provided entertainment and education for those in the queue.

Immediately behind the structure on the exhibit's interior, AFM set up a unique selfie station. At the chest-high installation, attendees perused custom avocado-themed filters à la Snapchat. For instance, visitors could shoot themselves seemingly eating chips with a scoop of guac or wearing sunglasses with avocados on the lenses. The station's intuitive technology allowed users to capture a photo, video, or GIF with a branded banner along the bottom. Users received their selfies via email, and the ensuing social-media posts enabled AFM to harvest scores of "organic" impressions.

When those in line reached the short end of the container, they were treated to a three-minute video via a wall-mounted monitor. The brief production rolled out AFM's new "Ready when you're ready" campaign aimed at providing retailers and distributors with the educational messaging and resources they need to boost everyday consumers' confidence in purchasing the fruit without any fear of wasting it.

The narrator opened the snappy video by stating, "Avocados From Mexico is aware that changing behavior through education will be important to continue driving opportunity with avocado buyers and moving them up the purchase funnel." Its research, according to the video, had identified ripening and preserving the fruit as two key purchase barriers. The video posited that "73 percent of shoppers would be likely to buy more avocados if they had more avocado info and knowledge." Then it went in-depth on the new "Ready when you're ready" messaging and highlighted AFM-produced signage available for grocers to post by in-store produce bins that educates consumers in seconds about how to select, ripen, preserve, and serve avocados. The focus of this streamlined and dynamic video messaging replaced many of the wordy graphics from previous years and helped AFM hit its educational target while allowing the marketing group to maintain its simplified, refreshed look.

When the educational piece concluded, attendees were set to reach the head of the line, where enthusiastic brand ambassadors clad in vibrant dresses greeted them. The staffers invited visitors to step up to the window on the left beneath the "Guac it" sign. A portrait-oriented monitor with "Spin to Win" and a slot-machine graphic filled the window frame, and a large red button was affixed to the container to the right of the window. Players punched the red button, and the on-screen wheels began spinning. When the wheels stopped, the popular AFM jingle played. The three wheels displayed any combination of whole avocados, halved avocados, and the coveted golden avocados. Three golden avocados activated an explosion of on-screen chips, indicating the player had hit the jackpot and won the premier "Gold Guac Bowl" treatment, which would play out across the next three windows. (On the first day of the show, 20 percent of spins hit the coveted jackpot, and AFM adjusted that up to 30 percent on the second day – a decision based on the amount of premium giveaways left to distribute.) Those that didn't strike avocado gold didn't walk away with disappointed, empty bellies, however. Instead, they were treated to a slightly pared-down version of the Guac Experience.

All players moved to the second window to "Get it," as noted by the neon sign above. A staffer presented everyone with a plate of savory guac and chips (prepared in the hidden kitchen) and offered them premium toppings. Jackpot winners were allowed as many of the toppings as they wanted, which included eight options ranging from Cotija cheese and serrano chili to corn salsa. Everyone else was limited to two options. Guac in hand, attendees moved to the third "Top it" window where additional – though somewhat unconventional – toppings were available for visitors to further customize their treats. Sauces ran the culinary gamut from traditional Cholula sauce to a zippy wasabi. Clear tubular dispensers with knobs allowed all attendees to self-serve dry fixin's such as pistachios and pineapple. "Somewhat surprisingly, the spicy-hot Cheetos were a huge hit," Cabañas says.

As attendees took the first bites of their guac concoctions, they sidled to the final "Win it" window, where everyone walked away with avocado-inspired swag. The "golden" attendees got to choose from any of the options, including premium avocado-tagged goodies such as neoprene tablet sleeves and lunch bags. All other visitors picked from such tchotchkes as avocado keychains (which many of the jackpot winners opted for as well) and whimsical sunglasses with the fruit on the lenses.

While this marked the satiating concluding of the Guac Experience, many attendees ventured around the booth to take in more of its tantalizing offerings. Those that had only whet their appetites explored the adjacent aisle where they could nosh on avocado-topped burgers (including the Beyond Meat plant-based patties) or swing by the taqueria cart for inspired tacos. VIP guests who had prescheduled appointments headed for the exclusive "Green Room" for a 30-minute, chef-led gourmet event. And, of course, staffers eagerly educated grocers and distributers about how to best market avocados at the in-store produce area as well as the in-booth theater space.

Happily Avo After
The overhauled booth and new Guac Experience left Fresh Summit attendees stuffed with educational resources and avocado-centric foods. It also left AFM with a bellyful of delicious results. While the company hoped to boost traffic by 10 percent compared to the previous year, the exhibit drew more than 12,000 visitors, an increase of 12 percent. The Guac Experience accounted for nearly 3,000 of those visitors, while the selfie station garnered a total social reach of 16,385 impressions, a scrumptious organic boon for the AFM brand. On top of that, in-booth time for attendees surpassed 20 minutes on average, outstripping AFM's goal of 15 minutes. In fact, the AFM marketing team touted the event as "the best show to date."

And they weren't the only ones exclaiming "Holy guacamole." Sizzle Awards judges found the traffic builder more than a little appetizing and wanted to come back for seconds. "Everyone loves guac!" one judge remarked. "And being able to customize it through a multisensory experience is a great way to engage with attendees and generate buzz. This was also perhaps the most creative and interesting selfie station I've seen." Another judge noted, "There was so much to do in this booth that kept the lines long and the traffic booming. Also, kudos for keeping everything so closely tied to the brand."

Even better, AFM marketers managed to achieve all of their show goals while keeping within a modest budget by simply revamping existing graphics and reusing the transformed shipping container. In other words, this inventive traffic builder simply rocked – or, perhaps more accurately, it "guaced." E