FOOD INDUSTRY ...Continuation of page 50 of manual labor they were spending to generate content by adopting AI to develop it for them. MOTHER NATURE HAS OTHER PLANS While this technology has created new ways of working, it 吀栀e most unpredictable marketing disruptor is Mother also is not yet regulated and therefore there is still skepticism Nature. It does not matter how well planned your content around copyright law and authenticity that plague the calendar is or how much you’ve invested in a campaign that perception of how markets are using AI. will launch city-wide, statewide or across 吀栀e bene昀椀ts of the e昀케ciency of AI are starting to lead the the nation. dialogue as marketers rely on the technology to support Mother Nature has and will continue plan redundant tasks, availing themselves for more strategic to derail your whole plan. Smart time and process. 吀栀ere is no argument that the technology marketers know this and will always be " " is being used by deviant actors to mislead and misguide thinking about Plan B. with convincing AI-generated content. 吀栀erefore, produce Often the beauty and wrath of Mother marketers will have to work diligently to make the case for Nature is the early-morning fodder using AI in their work proving that not all AI-generated among farmers. What will today bring? content is malicious. Yes, the elements impact crops 昀椀rst, but it’s a chain reaction and produce B BROWSING SOCIAL MEDIA marketers need to be prepared. Social media has proven its value as a marketing and advertising platform where produce companies can reach their WORLD EVENTS AND THEIR LOCAL IMPACTL intended target audiences directly in a manner and channel that On the broadest platform - the world stage - marketers can best meets their strategic objectives. adopt awareness as a recurring practice to ensure that their 吀栀e challenges that marketers worked through in 2024 on clever message isn’t perceived in a manner unintended. social media include Meta’s many lawsuits resulting in changing But it’s not just con昀氀icts in the Middle East that are creating algorithms, advertising restrictions and channels limitations, messaging sensitivity. 吀栀e recent port strikes on the east coast to the proposed ban of the platform of the US create a direct impact to consumer marketing. TikTok in the US which would have As we wrap up the year with a number of these headwinds severed the opportunity to reach 50 coming to light in the 昀椀nal months, the reality is this is par million U.S. users daily. for the course. Produce marketers are resilient because the Social media is no longer the free farmers who rely on their services are resilient. It is the marketing frontier. It’s a complex nature of the industry. But the factors that impact marketing network of communication strategies continue to mount. channels reaching more 64 Fortunately, consumers are also becoming more resilient, 64 % percent of the total global more informed and more tolerant of disruptions in the supply of the total global population population daily. chain. 吀栀ey are not just our end-users, but our neighbors, 吀栀ose who are engaging friends and family and when we can approach marketing use social media daily in 2-way dialogue and through this lens, we’ll continue to land our strategies with community participation integrity and empathy. will continue to stay ahead of the turbulent tide of technology. 5522 NNOOVVEEMMBBEERR/ D/ DECECEEMMBBEER 2R 200224 4 AABBAASSTOTO..CCOOMM