Fruitrition Video

By Tad Thompson | January 21, 2014

Once upon a time in American culture, nothing was easier than making apple pie.

But somewhere between the creation of the Internet and Tweeting, the simple art was lost.

Riveridge Produce Marketing, Inc., hasn’t given up on the “Millennials” or Generation Y, which involves people born between the early 1980s and the early 2000s.

Of a wide variety of promotional efforts currently being conducted by Riveridge, company President and Partner Don Armock said his favorite may be the effort to teach Millennials how to bake an apple pie. That audience is reached on a familiar meeting ground — YouTube, via the apple company’s website: riveridgeproduce.com. The direct link to the You Tube site is: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RF8V5m_FI0.

Armock noted that, generally speaking, Generation Y “never has had an inclination to bake a dessert” and perhaps was never taught to do so. In the YouTube video, a young chef, Tommy FitzGerald, from Riveridge’s backyard in Sparta, MI, gives a gently thorough description of how to bake an apple pie. Traditional recipes may presume that consumers know — and know how to — peel apples before putting them into a pie. FitzGerald shows how to peel and core apples, should the cook have any doubt.

The YouTube video was put online prior to Thanksgiving.

Riveridge is directly targeting consumers through this effort.

“You need something that resonates with the consumer and pull apples through for retailers,” Armock said. “Retailers are exposed to risk if they do not have turnover on the store shelf.”

A Riveridge press release noted: “Your shoppers will be putting holiday largesse behind them in mere weeks.  Are you ready to promote apples as a diet snack solution?  They’re a healthier option than diet cookies or sodas, so entice shoppers to choose fresh apples with creative displays.

“Build simple displays with oversize exercise balls and jump ropes, and place healthy recipe cards at the edges.  Develop coupons or in-store special flyers and take them to the local health club.  Drop a sack at your favorite morning radio show.”

Produced www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RF8V5m_FI0