Canadians have already shown a fondness for avocados, spending approximately $300 million a year on the fruit. Now San Diego’s Chosen Foods, which bills itself as the leading producer of pure avocado oils, is boosting its presence in Canada with an avocado condiment line and a new brand identity.

“We harness people’s general love and obsession for avocados into all of our products” says Robin Burgin, senior brand manager at Chosen Foods. “Additionally, we’ve taken insights from ​Canadian shopper trends, including healthy eating and clean labels.”

Burgin says it’s using the proven success of avocado oil to catapult the growth of avocado oil-based condiments and expand the distribution on these products, which are not as well-known in the Canadian market.

According to Burgin, the aim is to deliver a healthier condiment option to Canadians, including, eventually, a diverse line of dressings, marinades, cooking sprays and mayos.

To better communicate what it’s about to consumers, it has made the avocado graphic more prominent on its label, while shrinking down and simplifying its “goddess” logo (see previous branding, below) to highlight its Baja, California / Mediterranean roots.

“We noticed that over the last few years as brands entered the culinary oil aisle, everything was starting to look the same and blend together, making it nearly impossible for consumers to make educated decisions at shelf,” Burgin says.

For new entrants in categories ranging from plant-based dairy replacements to frozen treats, brands have been finding that calling out the main ingredient clearly on packaging is an important way to show shoppers why a product is unique and drive differentiation.

Burgin tells strategy that the condiment SKUs it has introduced into the Canadian market are meant to be extensions of its flagship avocado oil that was first introduced in 2014.

“It wasn’t until recently that we kicked things up a notch with targeted marketing, PR and increased distribution of our products,” Burgin says. “We feel like there is enough brand recall and brand recognition among our consumers, with the help of our best-selling item, to warrant a full rollout in Canada.”

In 2021, Chosen Foods is planning on launching a strong POS strategy to increase brand awareness and drive adoption among both novice and more seasoned chefs. Both groups that are looking for new things to try at home but are also looking at an oil and condiment category that is crowded and competitive, with little differentiation.

The challenge Chosen Foods faces is educating consumers on the unique versality of its products and differentiating as the go-to high heat cooking oil, Burgin says. And avocado oil is in its infancy, especially compared with how entrenched adjacent categories like olive and canola oil are.

“People are looking for foods that are rich in nutrients and have a clean ingredient profile,” she says. “As a brand that puts a heavy emphasis on creating healthy avocado-based products, consumers have really gravitated towards our family of products to fulfill that need.”

According to Burgin, Chosen Foods has also seen traffic on ecommerce increase significantly, both on its own platform and health food-focused partners, and it has placed much more energy behind supporting this part of the business to help ensure it can provide products to consumers who might not want to leave the house during the pandemic.

To support the new product rollout across Canada, Chosen Foods hired GreenFresh for marketing support and LC3 Communications for media and influencer relations.