Ivonne Kinser
101 Great Minds on Music Brands and Behavior
Ivonne Kinser, Vice President of Marketing & Innovation/Head of Marketing, Avocados From Mexico
In the words of the Head of Marketing at Avocados From Mexico, Ivonne Kinser, "There's always a better way to do things. Progress starts with nonconformity."
Ivonne carries over 20 years of experience in marketing, including a wide experience in digital marketing that she started acquiring way back in 2001 when digital marketing consisted of just websites and banners.
Her intellectual curiosity, disruptive creativity, and passion for innovation organically positioned her as the innovation champion of her organization Avocados From Mexico, which in 2021 was recognized among the Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies line-up, and the top one in the branding category.
For two consecutive years – 2021 and 2022, Latino Leaders Magazine named her one of the 100 most influential Latinas in the U.S., and in 2022 she became the first Latina to receive the American Marketing Association Lifetime Achievement Award. The organization's highest honor bestowed upon a deserving recipient.
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“Conventional wisdom produces conventional results. To stay relevant and to maintain their competitive edge, brands must get out of their comfort zone and explore, experiment, take risks and embrace non-traditional approaches.”
— IVONNE KINSER, VICE PRESIDENT OF MARKETING & INNOVATION/HEAD OF MARKETING, AVOCADOS FROM MEXICO
Uli Reese: Thank you for joining the conversation, Ivonne. Can you tell me about the brand, Avocados From Mexico?
Ivonne Kinser: Avocados From Mexico is a very unique brand. We are a brand that exists in a brand-less category with a package-less product that we market as a CPG (Consumer Package Good).
Our CEO, Alvaro Luque, is a CPG veteran who was determined to change the game in the fresh produce industry by changing the perception of Mexican avocados from being “a commodity” to becoming a coveted brand in a way that has never been seen in the category. He built the company and hired the talent accordingly to that innovative and ambitious vision. The results in only eight years speak for themselves. The Avocados From Mexico's brand preference has gone from 20% to 60%, and the imports have doubled from 1.4 Billion Lbs to almost 2.5 Billion Lbs per year in only 8 years.
Uli Reese: How has your journey been, and how did you end up with the avocado brand?
Ivonne: I came on board in 2014 to build the digital marketing department from the ground up after a 15+ years career in both areas of the marketing industry: advertising agencies and brands. My career has been an eclectic curation of experiences across almost every product category with small and mighty agencies, global communications groups, Fortune 500 brands, as well as legacy brands in the process of being modernized and refreshed. One of the few product categories in which I had no experience when I joined the Avocados From Mexico brand was fresh produce. As it turns out, that was exactly what our CEO was looking for. Someone that could come with a disruptive creative approach and the ingenuity of an industry outsider to help carry out his vision of doing what nobody else was doing at the time in the industry. And so, we did!
After a few years, I was tasked with leading the innovation agenda for the marketing company, and in 2021 Avocados From Mexico was included in the Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies List, and even more remarkable, as the most innovative brand in the U.S. even ahead of very respected and disruptive brands such as TikTok and Impossible Foods.
I currently have the responsibility of the entire marketing department as the head of it, and I lead an amazing team of over-performers in all the areas of marketing, including the departments that I built (digital, digital media, and data) and also brand and brand strategy.
Uli Reese: What is your biggest challenge today as the head of marketing for such a rebellious, non-traditional, and innovative brand?
Ivonne: I have a big challenge in front of me, which is to increase the unaided awareness of a brand whose brand name is also its origin. If we look at the entire context element by element, we have that our product is absolutely adored by consumers. Over 90% of the avocados consumed in the U.S come from Mexico, and the Mexican culture, its essence, its soul, and its personality embody fun, joy, good vibes, and exhilarating moments. Our ability to successfully attach all those feelings and sensations to our product will determine the level of success of our branding efforts, and right now, I'm obsessively focused on creating the conditions and developing the layers to make consumers feel that "Mexicanity" with all its magical power every time they experience, perceive, see, or hear our brand.
Uli Reese: It's interesting that you mention consumers "hearing" our brand. How important is that multi-sensorial marketing approach in your marketing strategy?
Ivonne: As you know, brands -as people- are multi-dimensional. Brands have personalities; they trigger feelings and emotions and create and re-create memories. When built right, the power of a brand to influence people’s lives is one of the most- fascinating aspects of the scientific side of marketing.
Avocados From Mexico has a very unique, quirky, and fun personality that is inherited from the soul of its origin; that’s how we are felt as a brand. Additionally, we have been working very hard within the past couple of years to develop a consistent look with our brand color, "Avocado Glow," in the foreground and in the background of every space where the brand shows up, and that's how consumers see us and recognize us.
On another dimension, we have one of the strongest jingles you have probably heard in the industry, with incredibly strong recall and stickiness. We will now be extracting the sonic DNA of that jingle to create flexible sounds that can be stretched limitlessly to fit any asset in any format, media, context, or environment. It will become the sound of Avocados From Mexico’s brand always and everywhere.
This project is not only very close to my heart as a passion project, but it is so high on my priority list that I will personally manage it directly so that I can contribute to discovering and inventing new possibilities and extensions that do not necessarily fall within the norm.
Reese: Brands spend millions on licensing. They rely on that and research, but how important is it to you?
Ivonne: We’re extremely research-driven, and the opportunity to test sound among our core demographics is very powerful. With it, we will have the opportunity to increase unaided brand awareness and message recall which are very important KPIs for us. Knowing that our consumer will connect with the feelings and mood that our brand means to inspire is extremely compelling for a consumer-centric brand like ours.
Reese: So why is now the right time for sonic? Because you’re correct, it’s one of the hottest subjects on any CMO's agenda...
Ivonne: It’s because we have the technology behind it that we didn't have before. Now, we have machine learning and artificial intelligence, and both will help us test the market and identify how we can leverage our sound. I'm a digital native, so I believe in the power of technology and how technology has been able to change marketing. The fact that technology can now enable this type of approach in a more precise and intelligent way propels the adoption.
Reese: We're moving so fast, but where do you see the biggest opportunities in terms of sonic?
Ivonne: This space is so broad. There’s Alexa, Spotify, podcasts, and also traditional spaces. We created and launched the first and only Avocado University to train our Food Service partners on the use, preparation, and handling of avocados, and we have a state-of-the-art Culinary Center in our Head Quarter where a lot of culinary innovation happens. Imagine having the brand's Sonic Branding as a background while the next avocado innovation is being created. And while all that happens, retailers visiting our trade shows and exhibitions, shoppers in the grocery store, consumers visiting our brand activation at SXSW, and Super Bowl watchers are also listening to the same brand sound created from the same Sonic DNA.
There are still unexplored spaces where you can insert that sound, and that's what I'm hoping to discover as we embark on this process to develop this new dimension of the brand.
Reese: Against that backdrop, what are your final thoughts on the industry's future regarding sonic?
Ivonne: Everything changes and technology brings us new opportunities every day. Because of that, the role of contemporary marketers has dramatically changed. To be successful, we need to be explorers and always be on the lookout for ways we can advance and how we can improve brand equity and the power of our brands. For us marketers and brands, our biggest fear should be to become irrelevant. There's always a better way to do things. Progress starts with nonconformity.
Note: The interview took place in Texas, USA on the 9th of June 2022.
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