Looking beyond Aunt Sally’s standby rice-and-broccoli casserole, Riceland Foods Inc. surfaced a new idea for Thanksgiving this year: Frying your turkey in its rice bran oil; it’s cholesterol-free and blessed with a high smoke point.
Riceland has big name recognition in Arkansas, a state that truly qualifies as America’s rice land, but the company is hoping to raise its profile elsewhere.
CEO Danny Kennedy and Ben Noble, who hired on last year as vice president of marketing and strategy, commissioned new marketing and branding campaigns that will run through the holidays and into early next year.
More than half of the nation’s rice is grown on Arkansas’ 2,300 rice farms, some 1.2 million acres that provide $6 billion a year to the state’s economy, according to the Arkansas Rice Council.
Riceland’s brand is a home-state favorite, familiar on supermarket shelves and in restaurant and food-service pantries. Many Arkansans also know that Riceland Foods of Stuttgart, founded in 1921, is the world’s biggest miller and marketer of rice.
The farmer-owned cooperative’s $1.3 billion in annual revenue is impressive, but you don’t run across the Riceland name much on YouTube, or in supermarkets in many parts of the United States.
Marketing directly to the public has not been a routine priority.
But Ghidotti Communications and Rev365, both of Little Rock, are out to change that.
“We were hired in May to serve as the digital marketing, PR and content marketing agency for Riceland,” said Natalie Ghidotti, CEO of her namesake firm. Her partners at Rev365 will lead e-commerce efforts, she said. Barkley, a Kansas City ad agency, will provide its consumer packaged goods expertise and lead new branding efforts that will be rolling out from now through early 2019.
“Danny, Ben and the leadership team have taken a strategic turn to focus on elevating the retail side of the business,” Ghidotti told Arkansas Business. “Ben wanted to bring outside agencies to help. Of course the company still focuses on exports and food service [selling large bags of rice to restaurants, etc.], but with today’s environment and the fact that more and more people are shopping online, the retail side of the business needs a fresh new approach to marketing.”
Ghidotti and Rev365 have ramped up their campaign in markets where Riceland isn’t on the shelves. “We are piloting e-commerce marketing in Boston, Atlanta, Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham, Charleston and Greenville,” Ghidotti said, “with the goal of seeding the way for Riceland’s sales team to begin introducing the brand to store shoppers in those markets.”
The e-commerce effort is promoting sales of rice and turkey frying oil on Amazon, and a gift box of Riceland rice in all new packaging, along with branded cooking items, is part of the push. Each market will have its own custom landing page on the internet, featuring influencer marketing by big local names. One example is Kevin Gillespie, the Atlanta chef, author and former contestant on Bravo’s “Top Chef.”
Ghidotti, noting that Gillespie was a finalist for the James Beard Foundation’s best chef in the South award, said he was creating two recipes using Riceland rice. He’ll be sharing that content on his social media platforms, which Ghidotti said have a wide following in the Atlanta area.
“We are working with influencers like Kevin in each market,” she said.
One slogan of the marketing campaign is “Support Your Sides,” an invitation for customers to use rice as a main ingredient in side dishes for holiday gatherings. Another motto, “Bring the Heat,” is attached to promotions of Riceland’s rice bran oil in turkey frying.
“This is a major piece of business for our firm,” Ghidotti said. “Ghidotti is leading the client relationship, strategy, content marketing and social media, as well as community relations. Rev365 will focus directly on building out Riceland’s e-commerce footprint, particularly on Amazon.”
In the meantime, Ghidotti Communications has launched a new website of its own to give “a fresh look into our agency and our laser focus on relationships, reputations and results,” Ghidotti said.”
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