Blue Diamond Growers has hired McKinney as creative agency of record across its Blue Diamond portfolio, which includes Almond Breeze almond milk and Blue Diamond snack almonds.
The decision was made after a pitch process led by Select Resources International. Incumbent TBWA/Chiat/Day LA, which had held the account since 2019, did not participate in the review, according to Raj Joshi, senior VP, global consumer division at Blue Diamond Growers.
“It was time for us to go in a different direction,” Joshi said. "We are very thankful for the great work that Chiat did in the last three-and-a-half years in a very difficult environment with the pandemic and remote collaboration.”
The account now will be led out of McKinney’s LA office, with support from team members in both its Durham, North Carolina, and New York City locations. The first campaign is set to launch in January 2023.
The company’s revenue numbers have remained steady over the past three years. In 2021, Blue Diamond posted $1.57 billion in revenue, slightly down from $1.59 billion in 2020 and just above its 2019 revenue of $1.56 billion. Blue Diamond Growers spent $43 million on U.S. measured media in 2021, more than twice what was spent in 2020, but down from $58 million in 2019, according to Kantar.
Moving forward, the 110-year-old company will look to expand its reach in U.S. households, according to Joshi, who said a focus will be on educating consumers about Blue Diamond's various snack almond products. “It may not be new to the brand, but it may be new to consumers,” Joshi said.
One challenge is educating consumers about the wide array of flavors. “They have 17 versions of these almonds, which most people don’t realize,” said Joe Maglio, CEO of McKinney. The goal, Maglio said, is to position Blue Diamond as a snack beyond the competitive set of nuts: “They’ve created all of these different flavor profiles so that if you want a barbecued chip, there’s an almond that tastes basically the same, but it’s a lot healthier for you.”
Joshi said Blue Diamond is also looking to increase its reach with multicultural and younger audiences and that it will continue to explore new types of flavors and products geared toward bringing in new snackers. One example is its new line of Blue Diamond Xtremes snacks, which include flavors such as Cayenne Pepper, Ghost Pepper and Carolina Reaper. “Xtremes was a great example of really pushing the flavors that we launched last year,” Joshi said.
Blue Diamond also became one of the latest brands to enter the metaverse. In March, Almond Breeze launched 1,000 Ape-themed free NFTs to promote its banana-blended almond milk. The agency will also be focused on a social-first approach in pitching its almond brands. The goal is to be “top of mind” for consumers, many of whom rely on online-grocery shopping apps, before they start grocery shopping, Maglio said.
“Video and audio are really going to drive this connection that we're looking for,” Maglio said. "TikTok and Instagram are two [social platforms] that we're very familiar with. With Little Caesars, we've brought them from not being on TikTok to the No. 1 pizza brand on the channel. That is definitely a place where we're looking for Blue Diamond almonds. We can lean into audio and visual and the right micro-influencers. I think there’s a humor component to this that's going to help it break through.”
Joshi added that “Plant-based lifestyles are increasingly becoming mainstream, so it’s less about educating consumers and more about encouraging trial and brand loyalty. Our north star is very clear. We've been an almond company for 110 years. We'll be an almond company as far away as we can see. So that's how we stand out. Over the years we have really set the standards for taste quality, food safety, and things like that. We do that better than anybody else. So I think that's how we continue to do our business going forward.”
