Hard to believe it has only been a year since our marketing communications partner joined the raspberry team. Over the last year we have chronicled in this newsletter the Team’s plans and resulting accomplishments. Admittedly, it may seem as progress has been slow, but that is not the case. Over the course of the first year, results validate the vision and strategy adopted by the Council show that challenges are being successfully overcome. Early on, we viewed our quest as “To Infinity and Beyond.” But why stop there? Simply stated, our goal has become “Beyond Infinity.”

The next step to carry us beyond infinity is to build an equally successful and vibrant trade education program to complement the consumer program. The trade program, working directly with food manufacturers and food service chain operators, will again be built on the unique nutritional benefits and usage advantages of processed raspberries. We will begin by conducting baseline research on attitudes, usage, and awareness for processed raspberries. This will allow us to measure program effectiveness over time, and to fine tune our strategy.

This year, the Council will create and launch a “Real Red Raspberries” trademark campaign that will identify those products and/or menu items that contain real red raspberries. This is in direct response to a finding in the consumer marketing research conducted last winter that showed consumers would respond positively to products identified as having real fruit as an ingredient. The relationships we have and continue to build with Registered Dietitians are key to success.

Other examples of the trade program are creation of an online, interactive Buyer’s Guide that will inform and educate buyers of processed raspberries, a Harvest Tour for food manufacturers and food service operators, webinars, and culinary demonstrations. This is but a short list of what is in store for this year.

The strength of the raspberry nutrition story will be seem more frequently as Council-funded studies have begun to be published in leading scientific journals. This makes our job easier, as decision makers will read firsthand what we have been telling them: raspberries are a nutritious and delicious powerhouse.

Each year we will build on our successes and learn from everything we do. Your marketing team continues to challenge itself, never resting on the past. We continually look at ways to improve the raspberry experience, and how to apply what we have learned in all aspects of the program. We are motivated to creating a sustainable future for the raspberry industry, and being a partner of that future.