DOLE FOOD COMPANY, INC.: Peeling Back the Dole Brand

Dole Food Company, Inc is one of America’s most iconic brands, and extremely active in its corporate social responsibility efforts and initiatives. Despite demonstrable leadership on issues like childhood nutrition and environmental sustainability, a February 2010 media analysis revealed that only three percent of Dole’s media coverage referenced the company’s effort to be a good corporate citizen.

Dole retained our firm as its Agency of Record to help position the company as a leader in sustainability and nutrition initiatives. The biggest challenge that we faced was Dole’s expectation of tangible results in just six months.

The firm developed a comprehensive communications campaign featuring Dole’s nutrition and global sustainability initiatives front-and-center in media relations, direct-to-consumer outreach, innovative partnerships and online engagement. Partnerships with groups like WorkingMother.com and Treehugger.com, the Discovery Channel’s environmental blog, provided Dole third-party validation with previously skeptical audiences unfamiliar with the company’s CSR effort.

Targeting key consumer influencers and mommy bloggers with appealing news hooks – including interviews with celebrity dieticians and Dole’s own team of nutrition researchers – our team swung the pendulum of Dole’s media coverage back in the right direction. As of October 2010, the nutrition and sustainability campaign has received more than 36.7 million media impressions, or 46 percent of the company’s current total coverage.

RESULTS

  • Campaign Length: >6 mos.
  • Total Media Impressions: 36.7M
  • Consumer Blog Impressions: 10.5M
  • Business: 2.2M
  • Sustainability: 16.3M
  • Financial: 2.7M
  • Other: 15.5M

 

DOLE FOOD COMPANY, INC.: A Salad in Every School

Childhood obesity is one of America’s most acute health problems. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that the number of overweight children in the U.S. has more than tripled in the past 30 years, with the District of Columbia having the highest childhood obesity rate in the nation.

With this troubling trend as a backdrop, we saw an opportunity to increase awareness and drive behavioral change. Our client Dole Food Company, Inc. partnered with the United Fresh Produce Association to donate salad bars in public and charter schools, presenting a perfect opportunity to secure national media attention for Dole’s nutrition initiatives at-large.

Working with the CentroNía D.C. Bilingual Public Charter School, a salad bar recipient in Washington with a significant Hispanic population, the firm orchestrated a media event that brought together students, the media, and two D.C. celebrity chefs: Spike Mendelsohn of BravoTV’s “Top Chef,” and James Beard award-winner Cathal Armstrong.

The two chefs, the administrator of the USDA Food & Nutrition Service, Dole and CentroNía’s leadership spoke to a classroom packed with journalists, national TV outlets, bloggers and other guests about the importance of childhood nutrition and the impact that Dole’s “Salad Bar in Every School” initiative can have on our youngest generations.

After the formal briefing, and with cameras in tow, Dole mascot Bobby Banana joined the two chefs to deliver baskets of fresh fruits and vegetables to each classroom. The event secured 10.5 million media impressions, including stories in the Associated Press, Univision and NBC News. More importantly, the event featured Dole as a leader in the fight to promote healthy eating among our nation’s youth.

RESULTS

  • Campaign Length: 2 weeks
  • Total Media Impressions: 10.5M
  • TV: 1.5M
  • Print: 9M
  • Social Media Impressions: 110,000 (in first 24 hours)
  • Total Print Publications Reached: 65