The Almond Board of California (ABC) is sharing the almond stewardship story with consumers through an innovative new campaign. ABC’s Europe and strategic communications lead, Kath Martino explained that the idea originated while in Italy conducting consumer focus groups. After seeing a mural of a QR code painted on a wall in Milan, it sparked the idea of using that type of creative approach to tell the story of almond production.
“It got us thinking about how we could do something similar to tell what is actually a pretty complicated story of how you grow almonds,” Martino noted. “It’s not it’s not an easy story to tell, particularly knowing that some people like to go deep. You know, they want to know the ins and outs. And you can’t do that in an ad.”
The design of the QR code itself incorporates elements of farming. Martino said the purpose was to develop an image that would get the attention of consumers and lead them to answers to some of the most common industry questions. “What consumers care about with almonds is, how much water do they take? What’s the deal with pollinators? How about the waste? Is there any waste? So that was our jumping-off point,” said Martino.
The QR code initiative has been deployed in high-traffic areas including the Sacramento and Oakland airports, along with transit shelters in San Francisco. Already the innovative QR code has received hundreds of scans in just a few months, providing more in-depth information about almond stewardship than a traditional advertisement.
“When you scan it, it takes you through to the Almond Board’s Growing Good pages where you can read everything to your heart’s content about how almonds are grown,” said Martino. “So, essentially it’s a really simple storytelling technique to tell what is a pretty complicated story.”
Listen to the segment below.
Brian German
Ag News Director / AgNet West