Dive Brief:

• Avocados from Mexico announced its first celebrity-led shopper marketing program, which will sit at the center of the fresh produce brand's marketing around the Super Bowl, according to a press release.
• The marketer partnered with sportscasters Troy Aikman and Erin Andrews, who will appear on in-store displays that feature QR codes. When scanned, the codes access a Virtual Guac Bowl Stadium that lets participants enter for a chance to win autographed digital photos and personalized messages from Aikman and Andrews, as well as $1 million in cash prizes.
• The virtual stadium activation also includes recipes, educational content and loyalty offerings centered around the big game. After calling off doing an in-game Super Bowl ad, Avocados from Mexico appears to be putting a bigger focus on mobile-oriented retail marketing.

Dive Insight:

Avocados from Mexico has put a lot of stake in the Super Bowl as a platform to build brand awareness with consumers. Founded in 2013, the produce marketer has run TV spots across six consecutive big games, but earlier this month said it would break the streak next year for Super Bowl LV. The launch of its first celebrity-led shopper marketing program signals where Avocados from Mexico is placing its chips as it looks to stay front-and-center during one of the busiest sales periods for avocados, as sports fans stock up on the product to make guacamole for the types of viewing parties that may not happen at normal levels given the continued spread of COVID-19.

With the campaign, Avocados from Mexico is expressing confidence that consumers will continue to feel comfortable going to grocery stores during the pandemic and be open to engaging with a mobile-oriented activation to access the Virtual Guac Bowl Stadium. Foot traffic at several major grocery chains, including Albertsons, Kroger, Publix and Trader Joe's, appeared to fully rebound later in the summer after taking a hit at the onset of the health crisis, according to a recent Placer.ai analysis. But COVID-19 cases continue to tick upward in the U.S., and some NFL stakeholders believe the big game could be delayed, which would further disrupt marketing plans.

Avocados from Mexico also appears to be playing for scale with the effort, offering the display collateral for free to retailers. Kits will be available to order through Nov. 13. On the consumer-facing end, the brand is running social media and digital advertising to spotlight the sweepstakes, which promises the chance for winners to receive personalized messaging and autographed photos from sportscasters Aikman and Andrews, along with cash prizes. While the shopper marketing element is new for the company, Avocados from Mexico has frequently created digital platforms that offer content like recipes and party-planning tips to complement its larger Super Bowl plays.

In past years, the brand worked with Old El Paso on blogger programs that offered avocado-based recipes and developed dynamic in-store displays, coupons and social media content with the General Mills label. Last year, Avocados from Mexico became the first fresh produce marketer to leverage blockchain as an asset in a Super Bowl campaign, letting fans create a custom digital wallet they could fill with tokens by completing certain actions, such as sharing a piece of news about the company.

It's an open question whether other marketers will pursue a strategy similar to Avocados From Mexico's, forgoing a pricey Super Bowl commercial in favor of a bigger marketing play on the channels where consumers are spending more of their time during the pandemic. Sports marketers are doubtful that CBS, which is broadcasting the game, will have sold out of its inventory by Thanksgiving, as Fox did last year.

Mars Wrigley is the only regular Super Bowl marketer that has announced plans to run an in-game ad so far, though it hasn't specified for which of its brands. Despite the uncertainties, CBS is reportedly asking for around $5.5 million per 30-second TV spot, a figure roughly in line with recent years.