A supermarket in Virginia recently played host to a display housing 18,000MT of Fyffes Gold pineapples, in what has been hailed by supplier Turbana as the world's largest pineapple display.

Turbana said the display in Euclid Avenue Food City, Bristol edged out previous record holder Reasor's Foods of Bixby, Oklahoma, working through the night to erect an exhibit of 14,700 pineapples on the morning of June 30.

A Turbana spokesperson said the pineapples were grown in Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia.

In a release, the distributor - owned partly by Colombian cooperative Uniban and Irish multinational Fyffes Plc (ESM:FFY) - said the promotion leveraged social media, in-store activations and a "show-stopping" display.

In an effort to fully immerse shoppers in the record-breaking experience, Turbana and Food City launched a social media campaign across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest, which reached over 14 million people within four days.

Throughout the social media campaign, more than 5,000 shoppers within the Food City market area connected with the retailer and Turbana through one-on-one personal interactions across Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.

In store, shoppers snapped selfies in front of the display throughout the event and posted pictures with the hashtag #pineappleworldrecord to win free Fyffes pineapples for the rest of the summer.

"The store had a tremendous week in sales, and extra excitement with the customer interaction surrounding the Fyffes pineapple display," said the store's director of produe and floral operations, Mike Tipton.

During the promotion, store traffic for the week increased by more than 10% year-on-year, and pineapple sales were at an all-time high.

"At Turbana, we strive to go above and beyond in our involvement with our retail partners and their communities. K-VA-T and Food City share in this philosophy, which is one of many reasons why we consider them to be such a strong and dependable partner," said Turbana vice president of sales, Scott DiMartini.

"We would like to thank Food City for their support, especially Mike Tipton, Director of Produce and his entire staff for their efforts. Mike's vision and our mutual dedication for each other's business allowed us to execute this event, top to bottom."

Turbana and Food City plan to bring more exciting shopping experiences to the tri-state area of Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee, while building recognition for Turbana and its Fyffes-branded pineapples.

www.freshfruitportal.com