Florida Department of Citrus: A Year in Review

Tacy Callies Market

Last week, the Florida Department of Citrus (FDOC) held a live webinar to present highlights from the 2019–20 fiscal year. Areas covered included budgets, scientific research, marketing and economic market research.

This past year has been one of change, transformation and success for FDOC, as it has worked in collaboration with industry to meet the needs of both growers and consumers.

“What we could have never known is that the typical cold and flu season would bring a worldwide pandemic of a novel virus that would test the cultural, practical, economic and physical stability of humanity, and that trust, reputation and authenticity would become extremely high priorities for consumers,” said Shannon Shepp, executive director of the Florida Department of Citrus. “After countless hours of strategy and planning, there we were, in December of 2019, one hundred percent in on using digital media and ecommerce to put our best scientifically backed messages in play.”

A NEW MARKETING APPROACH
In 2019–20, FDOC delivered a national marketing campaign aimed at driving sales of 100 percent orange juice through ecommerce channels. The integrated campaign, which was developed with industry input through a series of workshops, introduced a new tagline, “The Original Wellness Drink,” along with a refreshed logo. The campaign set out to target lapsed orange juice buyers, primarily parents between the ages of 30 and 60 who hadn’t bought juice during the prior month.

Although this new marketing campaign was set before the COVID-19 pandemic, consumer purchasing habits began to shift, and sales of 100 percent orange juice began to increase in late February. Consumers started stockpiling staples, especially those with nutritional value.

DELIVERING RESULTS
Since the campaign’s launch in January 2020, the FDOC has seen very strong performance across all its marketing channels.

The campaign generated over $5 million in contributed orange juice sales and exceeded goals with over 322 million impressions. The marketing team also delivered a return on ad spend of $4.37, indicating a strong measure of success for the program.

FDOC has some new projects it is working on to further support the benefits of 100 percent orange juice and its marketing messaging. For more information and to access the webinar materials, click here.

Ashley Robinson, AgNet Media communications intern, wrote this article.