Chef Curtis Stone and Former MLB All-Star Ryne Sandberg Promote Hass Avocados for Sports Get-Togethers

IRVINE, Calif. (October 19, 2009) – With baseball in post-season and both professional and college football in full swing, the Hass Avocado Board (HAB) is implementing a game day entertaining marketing campaign that encourages consumers to further incorporate Hass avocados into their game day meals. The effort aims to increase avocado sales during the fall time frame, when there is a strong supply of Hass avocados from multiple countries in the marketplace.

"HAB's targeted promotional efforts surrounding game day entertaining during the fall time frame over the past few years have encouraged demand for Hass avocados amongst consumers at the retail level," said Jose Luis Obregon, managing director of HAB. "This year's promotion is designed to extend the strong avocado category performance from last quarter, when retail avocado category dollar sales increased by nearly 11 percent versus the same time frame the prior year, which is significant considering that the total fruit and vegetable category declined by almost one percent."

HAB has tapped both chef Curtis Stone and former Major League Baseball All-Star Ryne Sandberg to serve as spokespeople for the program.

Stone is the culinary advisor on NBC's "The Biggest Loser," host of TLC's "Take Home Chef" and author of multiple cookbooks. He has worked with HAB to develop four avocado-centric recipes perfect for game day entertaining that are being distributed to consumer media nationwide and he recently promoted Hass avocados as a delicious component of game day menus in media interviews with 15 television outlets in top-tier markets throughout the country as part of a satellite media tour. Additionally, he will be featured in downloadable videos produced by HAB that will be available on avocadocentral.com and distributed virally to consumers. In the videos, he will offer tips to consumers on working with avocados and demonstrate two of his specially created game day recipes.

Former Major League Baseball All-Star Ryne Sandberg also recently promoted Hass avocados as a key ingredient for game day meals during interviews with 19 national and regional sports radio outlets as part of a radio media tour leading up to the professional baseball playoffs.

Online efforts are serving as a large component of the overall program, with a game day entertaining micro site featured on avocadocentral.com. The site serves as a resource for consumers planning their next game day party, featuring Hass avocado recipe ideas and a game day entertaining-themed sweepstakes, where visitors have a chance to win an LCD HD television and home theater system, so that they can watch the game in style.

Additionally, HAB is conducting outreach to key foodservice media with a special mailing that includes Curtis Stone’s recently released cookbook, an avocado-centric foodservice recipe created by Stone and his tips for driving customers to foodservice locations during sporting events. Point-of-service materials and information about conducting foodservice game day promotions also are available on the HAB foodservice site at avocadocentral.com/foodservice.

HAB's merchandising team will expand the promotional efforts at the retail level by offering game day entertaining-themed point-of-purchase materials to retailers. These materials are available to order at avoHQ.com/research-marketing/pos-order-form.

The overall game day entertaining program also is in support of The Big Hit®, a joint multi-discipline marketing campaign focusing on encouraging Hass avocado consumption during the professional baseball playoffs, in which HAB, the Mexican Hass Avocado Importers Association and Chilean Avocado Importers Association are all participating. The marketing effort marks the first promotional collaboration between these avocado marketing associations, all of which are part of the HAB organization.

About the Hass Avocado Board

The Hass Avocado Board (HAB) was established in 2002 after approval by producers and importers of Hass avocados in a national referendum. A 12-member Board administers the program. Over 20,000 producers and 100 importers are involved in the HAB, which covers fresh domestic and imported Hass avocados sold in the U.S. market.

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