Getting blueberry buy-in isn’t hard. They’re known for being one of the top antioxidant foods, low in calories, high in nutrients — an all-around delicious superfood packing a burst of juicy flavor in every bite.

But getting blueberries in front of buyers?  Now that was a marketplace conundrum facing Padilla and their client, the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC). The number of stakeholders involved in a process like marketing blueberries is vast and diverse, which means that even this small but mighty berry isn’t exempt from today’s PR challenges.

In this episode of the PRovoke Media Podcast, Heath Rudduck, chief creative officer at Padilla, and Kasey Cronquist, president of USHBC, join Megan Keogan, to discuss the relationship between creativity and courage, and how creativity is the foundation for transformation.

Rudduck and Cronquist’s teams partnered together to launch USHBC’s new strategic positioning and call-to-action, “Grab a Boost of Blue,” focused on driving blueberry demand and increasing sales. So far, research has shown the campaign is resonating with consumers. For example, 87% and 68% of shoppers indicated they would purchase fresh or frozen blueberries on their next grocery trip.

The campaign’s components can be broken down to three key components designed to successfully gain attention and increase demand:

  • Grab: Motivates a strong call to action (easy and convenient);
  • A Boost: Promotes energy, health, great taste; and
  • Of Blue: Captures the color as a “visual feast for the eyes and pops off the plate!”

The council has added online resources, tools and advice on its website to help retailers capitalize on the new consumer promotion programs. Although the duo’s story is a winning one, both Rudduck and Cronquist agree that it has not been an easy process, especially because a product with such vast and universal audience combined with equally stakeholders has its challenges.

“There’s no magic bullet to this,” Rudduck said. “There is no ‘lock yourselves in a room and ta-da, here it is.’ It is the result of a multiplicity of elements. There is the knowledge you acquire over time… meeting growers, spending times in the fields talking to them while you’re munching on these things fresh off the tongue. What matters to that farmer is really important. What matters to the retailer is also important. But what matters to them is in many respects different. So, it’s grabbing all that information, the quality and quantity of stuff.”

Cronquist agrees and says the only constant solution throughout the process has been pushing for change and creativity.

“I remember bringing some of my famous buttons into the meeting rooms, which said: ‘Because we’ve always done it this way…’ with a line through it,” he said. “And, just making it clear that what we had been doing is not going to be the thing that we’re going to continue to do as we move forward from here because we needed bigger ideas, we need to change, we needed something that was going to solve some of the challenges that were being presented on my desk.”

Key moments

0:00 Introductions
2:49 Padilla’s motto: Make it better
5:33 Engaging a matrix of stakeholders
8:22 Unlearning 101
12:05 Inside the brainstorming room
15:12 Getting buy-in from your committee
23:10 Walking the agency-client journey
28:05 Risk vs.intelligent decisions
34:22 Don't tiptoe around change
37:54 Learn from history; get creative