The South Texas Onion Committee’s promotion campaign for Texas 1015 Sweet Onions resulted in another record-breaking marketing program this spring and early summer. The campaign focused on increasing brand awareness and sales of the Texas 1015 Sweet Onion.
This year, the South Texas Onion Committee launched its most comprehensive campaign to date, including live, print, digital, television and in-store promotions throughout the season, aimed at retailers, consumers and trade.
The South Texas Onion Committee kicked off the Texas 1015 season with a virtual field tour at the Viva Fresh Expo, where 184 participants, mainly retailers, had a first-hand look at the field and the process that goes into delivering the Texas 1015 sweet onions.
“The virtual field tours are always popular and ‘get back to the dirt’ by providing a valuable look inside the operations that deliver our nation’s first sweet onion to market each year. Because the tour is live, it is like visiting the operation for yourself and creates great dialogue between our Texas farmers and the stores that will eventually offer Texas 1015 sweet onions to consumers,” said Dante Galeazzi, manager of the South Texas Onion Committee and president of the Texas International Produce Association.
Consumer-focused promotions included a social media campaign that garnered a nearly 15 percent increase in followers from 2022, a sweepstakes bringing in more than 260,000 unique entries and 1.3 million engagements, and a food influencer recipe program and contest featuring seven influencers and harvesting over 600 live votes.
New to consumer promotions this year and amplifying promotion reach were an Instacart ad campaign and story segments published by Texas food legend David Elder of KSAT12’s Texas Eats on television, social media and digital.
Rounding out 2023’s consumer promotions was TX1015 Restaurant Week. Hosted in the Rio Grande Valley, this event featured seven restaurants who highlighted their local fare featuring Texas 1015 sweet onions and boosting engagement throughout.
Designed to increase awareness around the Texas 1015 season and availability, the campaign integrated retailer promotions and trade advertising together with this season’s program. The South Texas Onion Committee partnered with three Texas retailers to promote sales with in-store and digital promotions and a season-long ad campaign in popular trade publications.
“The proof is in the numbers. This year’s robust campaign successfully reached audiences directly, through social media, through retail and through trade – and it left an impact,” Galeazzi said.
Harvest of the Texas 1015 onions has wrapped up, and although excessive and heavy rains did damage some fields, yields were plentiful and demands were met thanks to the hard work of Texas farmers and farm workers. The rising popularity of the Texas 1015 has resulted in a nearly 40 percent increase in acreage planted this year.
For more information, crop reports, updates, marketing tools, videos, recipes and everything Texas 1015 sweet onions, visit tx1015.com.
The South Texas Onion Committee was founded in 1961 as a result of Federal Marketing Order #959 South Texas Onions. The order authorizes quality regulations, research and promotion programs, and markings, pack and container regulations for onions grown in South Texas. The South Texas Onion Committee is made up of growers and shippers handling onions in the 35 counties of South Texas that make up the governed area.
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