Mary Heslep, Senior Vice President of Strategy and Business Development, for Ten Acre Marketing, Discusses How Produce is Due for an Infusion of Creativity

UNITED STATES - Storytelling is something that we do in our daily lives; it is the way we understand the spaces we navigate and the decisions we make.

In part one of this series with Mary Heslep, Senior Vice President of Strategy and Business Development, for Ten Acre Marketing, we explored how storytelling in the fresh produce industry goes far beyond marketing, arguing that the most impactful brands are the ones that uncover and authentically communicate the unique moments, values, and decisions that define who they are. In this next feature, Mary dives into the pitfalls of produce marketing and how to find our way back to the light.

“We are our own worst enemies. No, we’re not at war, but we are in competition for consumer attention, and most of us are losing,” Mary begins. “The starting point is to wade ourselves out of the sea of sameness. It’s easy to produce marketing and packaging that appeals to your personal style preferences. It is even easier to ask AI to do the heavy lifting, ideation, and execution in the creation of these assets. Make something with our logo, use all the necessary certifications and codes, and get it on the shelf: STAT!”

But, as Mary explains, this rushed approach perpetuates the sea of sameness—an environment where multiple packages start to blend in on the shelf or in your social media feed because they all look the same: same colors, same fonts, same product.

“AI-generated creative uses existing visual points of reference to deliver what you’re asking for: a logo, a packaging design, a social media ad. It cannot differentiate unless you tell it what should be different. It does not think; it produces,” Mary describes. “For this reason, human creative professionals become the heart, soul, and thought leadership that controls such tools—rather than letting the tools dissolve our differentiation into gray matter, into a message that feels tone deaf and a mere echo of who and what a brand is. Creative professionals can use their visual storytelling training to develop logos, packaging, and advertising that is specific to an audience, creates an emotional connection, and delivers on a brand promise, in spades. And these elusive left-brained pros are still very much in business.”

Sometimes the horizon is hard to discern, especially with all the messaging that bombards us throughout our marketing calendars.

“This spring, while the industry was attending SWIPE, SEPC Southern Exposure, and Viva Fresh, some were also walking the CPG aisles at Expo West, seeking inspiration from center-store brands. And others were attending SXSW to learn the latest consumer and retail trends and where technology and culture are driving consumerism. It’s important to gain outside perspectives to freshen up stale marketing, but Expo West and SXSW won't cut it,” Mary lays out. “For the produce industry to be truly competitive, we need to be willing to take risks within our own category. An uncertain financial environment and geopolitics can create a perfect storm in which staying the course is the safest course, weathering the sea of sameness for another season. I believe this is the exact environment in which we should do the opposite: take risks that will propel us forward.”

Mary then sets us up for a momentum shift.

“After decades of borrowing brand competitors’ colors, graphics, and personalities, it’s time we, as an industry, took a bold new approach to food branding and marketing. An approach that does not try to be center store. But, an approach that will elevate produce as a well-rounded food product that no other department can compete with,” Mary expresses. “And it will be the creative humans, invested in the future of the industry, who will lead the charge into uncharted brand territory.”

Will you follow?

Stay tuned for the path ahead in the next story in our series with Mary Heslep.