With health and nutrition being key benefits of blueberries, National Nutrition Month®in March is a natural fit for the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) to rally around and leverage as its first “power period” of 2022.
National Nutrition Month® is an annual nutrition education campaign created and developed by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The campaign is grounded in making informed food choices, such as filling half of our plates with fruits and vegetables and establishing healthy eating and physical activity practices that have a positive impact on overall well-being. This year’s theme, Celebrate a World of Flavors, embraces global cultures, cuisines, and inclusivity.
USHBC’s March activations will use National Nutrition Month® as a hook to encourage creating fearlessly nourishing meals and snacks that fit into individual lifestyles, honor global cuisines and traditions, and cater to varying taste preferences. Additionally, since March is also National Frozen Food Month, both fresh and frozen blueberries will be highlighted as a smart way to amplify both the flavor and nutrition of popular meals and snacks, and provide an added benefit to a variety of eating patterns, life stages, and disease states.
“This key power period plays an important role in USHBC’s strategy to promote blueberries – not just as healthy, but as a way to impact overall wellness, no matter what that looks like for different people,” says Jennifer Sparks, USHBC vice president of marketing and communications. “We want to encourage consumers to grab a boost of blue throughout their day.”
USHBC’s robust National Nutrition Month promotion plan to increase awareness and consumption includes:
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Outreach to top-tier consumer-focused media outlets and direct communications to consumer e-newsletter subscribers;
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Outreach to registered dieticians and nutrition professionals nationwide, via key health publications and USHBC health professionals e-newsletter;
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Media segments, social media, and blog content achieved through USHBC’s Blue Crew ambassadors and media registered dieticians to garner third-party expert activation of the message;
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Distribution of custom-tailored fact sheets and recipes for consumers and health professionals; and
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Ongoing social media content, including nutrition and wellness tips, advice, recipes, and eye-catching imagery, will run throughout the month.
The industry can follow along and see some of the activations in real time by following USHBC’s social media accounts @blueberries on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tiktok. This content will be highly engaging and can be shared on your own channels to educate and inspire your audiences.
“A key initiative of USHBC’s 2022 promotion plan is to ensure that industry stakeholders can capitalize on our nationwide efforts for their own benefit as well as for the industry as a whole,” says Sparks.
To ensure the industry has tools and advice to plan in advance and take advantage of this opportunity to tie in National Nutrition Month, in early January USHBC released the National Nutrition Month Toolkit, available at ushbc.org/NutritionMonth. The toolkit includes:
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Social media content such as ready-to-use graphics and suggested captions for easy posting;
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Digital ads and banners to use on your website, in newsletter content, or in digital marketing materials;
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Delectable recipes, featuring both fresh and frozen blueberries as the showstopper ingredient, to awaken the inner chef and inspire experimentation with fresh flavors;
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Blueberry imagery to add to your own library, share on social media, include in your digital newsletter, add to printed collateral, or upload to your website;
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QR codes to add to your packaging or share in digital promotions to automatically take consumers to ideas to Grab A Boost of Blue, recipe inspiration, health benefits, and more, right at point-of-sale; and
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Downloadable tip sheets to share the health research and benefits of blueberries with consumers and health professionals.
“Collectively, we can do great things,” adds Sparks.
