 ARLINGTON, VA -- Supermarket dietitians (SRD) at H-E-B stores celebrated National Rice Month during September with an integrated promotion campaign that included the store magazine, text messages to consumers, and recipe demonstrations.
"When it comes to spreading the word about U.S-grown rice and building awareness for the industry, H-E-B is a valuable partner. The supermarket does a fantastic job of reaching shoppers across a sampling of media with print, online, and in-store demos," said Katie Maher, USA Rice director of domestic promotion.
U.S.-grown rice was prominently featured in the September issue of the store's My Health & Wellness Magazine, with a circulation of 695,000 shoppers and an additional reach of more than 540,000 online visitors. Readers were encouraged to Think Rice with a two week meal plan that included four rice recipes. The "News to Chews" section of the magazine focused on the health benefits, versatility, and convenience of cooking rice at home
As a second prong in the promotion campaign, H-E-B's healthy text message channel put out four weekly text messages to 80,000 subscribers. Messages were derived from the SRD toolkit and promoted the Grown in the USA label. One message read, "Take your taste buds on an adventure! Enjoy global and exotic cuisine with locally-grown rice. Try U.S. grown jasmine, basmati, black, and red rice."
Recipes from USA Rice were used for in-store demonstrations at select locations and customers were given recipe cards with the Think Rice logo during the tasting.
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