FOOD INDUSTRY 20A Challenging 24Year for Produce Marketing By Mary Heslep, SVP, Ten Acre Marketing s each calendar year passess, TURBULENT TECHNOLOGY professional marketers are introduced to new hurdles that Arti昀椀cial Intelligence (AI) introduced complicate their roles, making new e昀케ciencies to marketers and crea- Atheir job function “exciting” tive professionals in 2024. and challenging. 吀栀e good news is that 吀栀rough Generative AI, the arm of the marketers tend to accept these hurdles technology that creates new content, with open arms, embracing the headwind. such as text, images, videos, and music, Just as a surfer seeks out the largest wave marketers found ways to save hours to concur, marketers welcome the biggest challenge with no evident solution. Continues on page 52... That’s because marketers are natural problem solvers, built on curiosity and an impassioned need to conquer challenges. Fortunately, 2024 had no shortage of challenges for produce marketers as they worked to promote their brands, products and solutions that would advance the fresh produce supply chain and grow consumption of fruits and vegetables. From the threat of banning TikTok in the US, a channel that reaches 20 percent of the US population–50 Million people–daily, or the tech race to introduce AI which had a rocky start and is still in need of regulation, to the natural disasters of wild昀椀re, 昀氀ash 昀氀ooding and hurricanes that pound our agriculture communities; it has been a tempestuous year for marketing. All is not lost. As we wrap up the year of produce marketing, let’s take a look at the headwinds and how marketing professionals across the supply chain were able to embrace, react and reposition their strategies, resulting in even greater solutions. 5050 NNOOVVEEMMBBEERR/ D/ DECECEEMMBBEER 2R 200224 4 AABBAASSTOTO..CCOOMM