The US National Mango Board (NMB) is looking forward to stepping up its retail and consumer promotional activities from next month onwards, according to a press release.
The organisation, which promotes the sales and consumption of mangoes on a year-round basis, will for the second year celebrate Mango Month in June with “outstanding coverage” for the fruit in several national magazines and on television.
“Mango Month is a great way to kick off a summer of mangos and get consumers thinking of all the exciting ways they can use this versatile fruit throughout the season,” NMB said.
Coverage has already been secured in Coastal Living while other national magazines featuring mangoes this June include Bon Appetit, Ladies' Home Journal, Family Circle, Every Day with Rachael Ray, Woman's Day, Prevention and Women's Health.
A Mango Month video will also appear on TV stations across the US throughout June (and also features on the association’s website), plus a TV segment featuring Ingrid Hoffmann will also be aired across the country, in which Ms Hoffmann demonstrates how to ripen, cut and prepare mangoes.
NMB also plans a summer foodservice promotion in conjunction with Sodexo – the leading provider of integrated food and facilities management services in the US, Canada, and Mexico, serving 10m customers in 6,000 locations every day.
“When we first spoke to representatives of Sodexo early in 2008, they loved the idea of using mangoes on their menu, but they believed that mangoes would be too difficult to handle and that the yield would be too low for their needs,” NMB said.
“NMB completed yield and cutting studies in 2008, and the results helped change Sodexo's ideas about mangoes. In August of 2008 representatives from Sodexo visited with Chef Allen during the National Mango Board’s Day with Chef Allen program to learn creative ways to use mangos in a variety of dishes.
“Since then Sodexo has been working to develop, photograph and promote the mango dishes for our summer promotion. Our arrangement originally promised the use of fresh mangoes in four mango recipes served at 1,200 locations. This has grown to six recipes and 2,000 locations.”
NMB has also updated the Mango Market Development Index Report, a tool which can help the industry and retailers better understand the US mango market, including measurements for the nine US census regions and for 48 ScanTrack markets.
The report boils mango purchasing behavior down to a single number that indicates if that region or market is over-performing or under-performing in mango sales, relative to that area's population.
The average for the total US is 100, with an index of 120 or higher considered to be a strong mango market and an index of 80 or lower considered to be a weak mango market.
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