Tough times or not, with record-breaking attendance, this year’s PMA Fresh Summit was smokin’ hot.  What blew us away during the show?  We’ve broadened our list of marketing excellence to include impressive strategies and tactics represented both on and off the show floor.

THE EXPOSITION

There were definitely companies that presented themselves in a way that made the DMA team stop and take note. In this post we feature the companies that did it right by exceeding the status quo and of course, impressing us!

Best Messaging: The Temple-Inland booth (2nd Place in Best of Show) featured bi-lingual, value based messages that directly spoke to target audiences. Tradeshow mastery.

Best Use of Space: Duda Farm Fresh Foods’ island booth was perfectly staffed and boasted a 360 degree view of messaging and products.

Best Community Builders: The Gardein booth blew us away with their consistent tweets at #freshsummit that ultimately drove us to their booth to learn more. Super sweet website, by the way.

Best Take-Home Recipe: I’m sure everyone will agree that Ocean Mist Farms’ Raviolis with Roasted Garlic and Artichokes hit the spot. Yum! Kudos to Ocean Mist as well for its social media marketing campaign.

Biggest Trend Setter: Hands down, Del Monte’s new take on vending machines featuring fruit and veggie snack packs.

Best In-Booth Demo: It’s a tie. We especially enjoyed watching two big name chefs demonstrate their amazing art in two booths: Chef Tyler Florence at the Idaho-Eastern Oregon Onion booth and Rick Bayless at the Avocados from Mexico booth.

Best New Product: Frieda’s blew us away with a new product: totally edible Baby Kiwifruit.

Best Sweet Treat: Frontera Produce’s mango cheesecake left us speechless.

Most Engaging Booth: Shrek walked the aisle at Fresh Summit to welcome attendees to the Vidalia Onion Committee booth. 

 

THE CONFERENCE

Three cheers to PMA for successfully executing a seamless conference line up including big name speakers with memorable messages. From the general sessions to the workshops, the DMA team was impressed.

Biggest Inspiration: Dr. Condoleezza Rice absolutely blew us away with her anecdotes and leadership guidance at the Fresh Perspectives breakfast and during the General Session.

Best Team Builder: PMA FIT’s first ever Live FIT 5K Run/Walk hosted 250 adrenaline pumped participants boasting team shirts and spirit!

Biggest Opportunity: The DMA team sat in amazement during David Plouffe’s speech as he literally promoted the very thing that we hang our hats on. Lesson: digital marketing and social networking are here; they’re not going anywhere and if you’re not on board, get on it.

Best Improvement: Hands down the front and center placement of the Product Showcase and the Impact Award winners blew us away this year. In a new prominent location, these two hugely important displays were swarming with onlookers and information seekers. Next year, we’re hopeful that PMA will offer service providers and non-exhibiting companies an opportunity to present their services/product innovations in an equally prominent location.

Congrats to the companies who continue to strive for marketing excellence! The Core is your partner in crime, your comrades and biggest supporters. Did we miss something from our list that blew you away? Share it here.

The Essence: The DMA Solutions team shares best practices from observations made during PMA Fresh Summit in a variety of categories. The bar continues to rise in exhibitor marketing within the fresh produce industry. What is your strategy to continue to make an impact?

Posted by The DMA Solutions Team

Tags: best practices, Condoleezza Rice, Impact Awards, Marketing, Megan Zweig, New Product Showcase, PMA Fresh Summit, PMA Fresh Summit Conference and Exposition, promotion, trade show

Posted Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 at 12:17 pm and is filed under All, Branding & Messaging, Culture & Creativity, Events & Sponsorships, Fresh Produce Industry, Marketing Tools & Trends, Recipes & Office Eats, Social & Mobile Media.