The Michigan asparagus season concluded one week earlier than usual, with ample volume available for summer festivities.

To drive sales, the Michigan Asparagus Advisory Board (MAAB) enacted marketing strategies including retail promotions, influencer marketing, and digital campaigns, emphasizing the importance of buying locally and how that translates into supporting communities one spear at a time. 

Festive traditions such as barbecues, summer parties, and gatherings provided Michigan Asparagus a platform to showcase the vegetable’s nutritional value. As healthy eating has continued to prevail, incorporating twelve recipes resulted in more than 37,500 social media impressions.

The MAAB said it continued investing in its product by strengthening its social media presence by incorporating vibrant imagery, videos, and working with recipe creators.

These content creators not only developed new content but took their followers on a journey to learn more about the field-to-table process as well as educating them about the families responsible for growing Michigan Asparagus. Overall analytics garnered 44,000 engagements with a total reach of more than 19,000. 

The MAAB worked with eight key retailers across the Midwest, making a significant investment in digital campaigns, point-of-sale (POS) initiatives, and in-store demos to drive the locally grown/locally sourced messaging home.

Intending to increase brand awareness and tell the story of how incorporating a dynamic vegetable brings meals to life, this year’s mix of traditional and programmatic advertising reached thousands of consumers, showing that people want to know where their food comes from.

“When it comes to superior quality and premium flavor, Michigan asparagus has it all”, states Jamie Clover Adams executive director of the MAAB. “By enacting new and eye-catching strategies and highlighting the vibrant yet nutritious nature of our favorite vegetable, we created a great teaser that ultimately translated into higher foot traffic and an increase in sales during key purchasing periods.”