Chinese movie star Gao Yuan Yuan ambled in front of blooming almond trees, smelled the flowers, learned about pollination and even got stung by a bee – all while two Chinese television crews filmed her for a documentary and television series focused on California’s almond country.
The almond industry has hired Gao as its ambassador in China, and its effort is just one of many California nut growers are making to capture new markets in developing countries. U.S. farm exports reached an all-time high of $115.8 billion last year, and experts say developing nations such as China and India have huge potential for future growth.
China surpassed Canada to emerge as the top market for U.S. agricultural exports last year with $17.5 billion in sales, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“Everybody sees the Asia Pacific region as the place to be in the foreseeable future and is trying to establish a presence there to be a player in those emerging markets,” said Dr. Mechel Paggi, director of the Center for Agricultural Business at California State University, Fresno.
California’s agricultural exports have increased steadily for the past seven years, even through the recession, and the most rapid growth has been in nut sales. Almonds, walnuts and pistachios are now some of state’s top exports. But experts say that if the specialty crop industry hopes to continue that trend, it will need smart marketing to get people to eat more of their products.
“You have to take in cultural considerations,” said Becky Sereno, international marketing specialist for the Almond Board of California. “There are deep rooted cultural and even medicinal traditions, connotations and perceptions in these cultures.”
Hence, the hiring of movie stars such as Gao. People in their home countries feel a connection to them, and they “portray an image of a healthy, successful life. People look up to them as somebody they aspire to be,” Sereno said.
Gao is also featured in print ads and billboards the group has paid to have installed in bus shelters and print media and may appear in a series of TV commercials.
A similar campaign is ongoing in India, where the Almond Board hired Bollywood actress Karisma Kapoor to appear in television spots clad in a traditional Hindu sari during the fall festival season.
The Almond Board ramped up its marketing in Asia in response to record shipments in recent years, Sereno said. China and India were among the top four almond export destinations last year. Exports to China have risen from 16 million to 133 million pounds over the past five years.
