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APPB B2B Marketing Effort Drives Pecan Product Innovations


A TV segment sponsored by the American Pecan Promotion Board to increase awareness of pecans.

To help drive long-term demand for the industry, the marketing program is conducting a pilot program targeting product development teams to prove that pecans are on trend and in demand and to urge them to consider pecans in new food and beverage innovations.

Through partnerships with top trendspotting groups that product developers turn to for ingredient trends—Datassential and Mintel—the industry was able to validate product development trends and gather insights on consumer preference for pecans. With this data, we have developed a comprehensive Innovation Guide for product developers that showcases consumer demand for new pecan innovations, including the following:

  • Over the past decade, new product introductions featuring pecans increased by 54% (Mintel)
  • New line extensions with pecans have exploded with 141% growth in the last decade (Mintel)
  • More than three-quarters of consumers like or love the rich, buttery flavor pecans bring to a finished product. (Datassential)
  • 77% of consumers like or love the rich, buttery flavor pecans bring to a finished product, and 70% would like to enjoy pecans all year. (Datassential)
  • Nine in 10 consumers are interested in purchasing products with pecans year-round. (Datassential)

In addition to the new data points, the Innovation Guide includes inspirational pecan product concepts created by research chefs at Culinex, pecan nutrition information, and wholesale product information to encourage development teams to consider pecans for new applications.

The marketing program is reaching out to product developers that the top outlets’ ingredient decision teams turn to for trend information: Prepared Foods and Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery. The campaign includes digital advertisements, e-newsletters, sponsored articles, and social media content that details the benefits of choosing pecans. Additionally, the team is conducting media outreach to top B2B news outlets to encourage including pecans in upcoming editorial coverage.

Broadcasting Pecan’s Unique Benefits from Coast-to-Coast

To keep a steady drumbeat of pecan conversation going at the national and local levels, we’ve successfully executed 70 local market TV segments in recent months. These have aired from coast-to-coast, positioning pecans as a nutrition powerhouse and go-to ingredient for delicious and nutritious recipes. We partnered with well-known authors and registered dietitians, such as Frances Largeman-Roth, to further validate our health positioning among our target audience.

Our curated placements aired in top markets, including Washington, D.C., Chicago, New York, Atlanta, Dallas, Phoenix, and more. These segments were also syndicated to radio and online/print publications. In total, these features garnered over 59 million impressions.

Pecans Get All (Snack) Mixed Up

Three-quarters of Americans snack at least once a day (source: International Food Information Council article 2022 Food & Health Survey: Diets, Food Prices, Stress and the Power of Gen Z), and we’re inserting pecans into the snacking conversation to drive demand and usage. Our All Mixed Up campaign will reach our target audience this spring and summer via influencer partnerships, curated social media posts, custom recipes, and coverage on food and lifestyle sites.

We’re partnering with top-tier lifestyle outlet Buzzfeed to create playful and engaging pecan snack mix quizzes that will reinforce the benefits of pecans. We’re also working with influencers to develop approachable yet trend-forward bespoke pecan snack mix recipes like salted espresso, chocolate & caramel pecan snack mix, and garlicky salt, vinegar & ranch pecan snack mix. Additionally, we’re developing a news article that will be distributed via local newspapers nationwide, highlighting the recipes and benefits of snacking on pecans.

Author Photo

American Pecan Promotion Board

The pecan Research & Promotion program operates as the American Pecan Promotion Board. The board’s assessments are used for promotion, research, and industry information projects to help increase the demand for pecans. EatPecans.com