Dive Brief:

• Avocados From Mexico (AFM) launched a website that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help personalize the experience based on consumer engagement with its content. The Avocado Nation website features sections to watch videos from creators, win merchandise and join a loyalty program, per an announcement.
• Avocado Nation uses the group's consumer data platform (CDP) to study consumer interactions with the content and algorithms to recommend content predicted to be most engaging. The selection includes videos produced in collaboration with popular content creators, who have produced more than 70 videos to date.
• The effort shows how the brand is leveraging digital tech to gather data and insights to support personalized experiences, with the Avocado Rewards loyalty program asking consumers to submit their shopping receipts to win points that can be redeemed for money back or avocado-themed swag from its web store. The Avocado Shopping Network, which is partly a tribute to AFM's Super Bowl commercial in 2020, offers people a chance to win avocado-themed sportswear by posting their favorite items on their social media accounts.

Dive Insight:

Avocados From Mexico's new website aims to cultivate stronger relationships with devoted customers by gathering more first-party data that help to personalize its digital experience. By asking consumers to register at the site, explore its video content, join its loyalty program and earn rewards including exclusive merchandise, AFM can gain greater insights into consumer behavior. First-party data about consumers have become a priority for marketers as they face the loss of audience tracking technologies like third-party cookies and device identifiers amid consumer concerns about privacy.

AFM also can better control the online experience by partnering with creators who create exclusive original content for Avocado Nation. Rather than sponsoring videos that appear on social media or video-sharing sites and may get lost in the clutter, AFM's website pools the content into a platform that it manages. From there, it can apply its AI technology to analyze the viewing habits of visitors who register and log into the site, and provide customized recommendations on what else to watch. That personalized experience can help to drive greater engagement and repeat visits by customers.

AFM's Avocado Rewards program can help to gain insights into consumer shopping behavior and drive repeat purchases as consumers seek to earn points to redeem for discounts and branded swag, including a new sportswear collection. Seventy percent of U.S. consumers prefer discounts, making them the most popular kind of loyalty reward, marketing firm Merkle found in a study. Other popular rewards include free products (65%), free samples (51%), free services (48%) and a chance to win prizes (28%), the survey found.

AFM is among the marketers that have created branded merchandise to appeal to loyal customers in recent campaigns. Dunkin' for Valentine's Day offered wedding-themed merchandise on its website as part of a romance-themed campaign for the occasion. McDonald's has used the strategy for years with a variety of products, including the capsule collection for last month's launch of the Crispy Chicken Sandwich. Kraft Heinz's Planters brand introduced custom merchandise on its e-commerce site as part of its holiday campaign.

AFM's launch of Avocado Nation follows the rollout of its "Taco Tip Off" promotion to coincide with the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. The campaign marked a return to sports-related marketing after cancelling its Super Bowl ad for the first time in six years. During the regular NFL season, AFM ran its first celebrity-led shopper marketing program to engage consumers in stores.