36th Annual Marketing Excellence Award Winner: Mushroom Council

PROMOTION

Mushroom Monday

STRATEGY

Mushrooms are having a moment, and in 2024, the Mushroom Council decided it was time to give this moment a name. In fact, it deserved its own day of the week: Mushroom Monday.

The Mushroom Council is promoting Mushroom Monday for retailers and their shoppers via: branding; a new hub at MushroomCouncil.com for consumers to find recipe inspiration and add-to-cart options; education guides and toolkits for supermarket dietitians; influencer collaborations; social media and digital ads; media outreach; and producers and brands collaborating on retail campaigns.

The Mushroom Council has heavily engaged foodservice in Mushroom Monday, encouraging restaurants to participate by featuring mushroom menu items each Monday. The Mushroom Council offers a foodservice operator program kit that includes free downloadable assets.

RESULTS

The planned multiyear campaign already has earned significant traction at foodservice and retail, including: more than 25 additional restaurants signing on as Mushroom Monday participants; collaborations with 12 social influencers; a partnership with global culinary community Chef’s Roll with recipe videos shared with more than 1.65 million social media followers, reaching retail and foodservice culinary professionals more than 496,000 times; social media outreach reaching grocery shoppers and restaurant patrons more than 7 million times; and online ads reaching consumers and restaurants an additional 2.4 million times.