Open your eyes, enjoy!: PDO and PGI promotion campaing for Spanish agrifood products

By project SMEOrigin

Published on 07 February 2024

Spain

About this good practice

The campaign was born in 2016, when the association "Origen España" applied to the European Commission for a grant to launch a promotional programme on PDO and PGI certificates, given the general lack of knowledge about them.

The main objective is to increase awareness, value and appreciation of PDO and PGI products among Spanish consumers. This campaign wants to inform consumers about these European certifications but also how are produced according to the European production model.

The 'Open your eyes, enjoy!' campaign started in March 2020, and ended in February 2023. In it, the PDO and PGI seals have been shown with advertising actions, mainly on TV and online, so that consumers can see the identifying elements of PDO and PGI products and recognise them in the market when they go to buy.

The main activities carried out were: PR actions, edition of informative videos, website, advertisements and information campaigns on Internet, outside advertisement campaign (in airports and train stations). All the activities will have a continuation for three years. Actions that provide coverage and frequency, emphasising on creating awareness of the PDO and PGI schemes.

The target audience of this project are consumers, mainly those who are responsible for doing the shopping for the household. The focus was more on the population with medium and medium-high socioeconomic level, and on the age range of 35 to 55 years.
Other target audiences: opinion leaders and mass media.

Resources needed

This is a three-year promotion initiative, co-financed by the European Union (70%)
Total budget: 982.480 €
EU Contribution: 687.736 €
It was submitted under the following EU Call: AGRI-SIMPLE-2019

Evidence of success

During the 3 years of the campaign, interviews have been conducted in different stages with 2,000 people aged 25-65 who are responsible for household shopping, with results that prove the positive impact of this type of advertising. Over three years, from 2020 to 2023, 'Open Your Eyes Enjoy! has led to an increase in the number of consumers buying products with PDO and PGI on a weekly basis (63%), as well as regular (19%), daily (10%) and special occasion (71%) buyers.

Potential for learning or transfer

It was the first time that a campaign of this kind has been carried out, thanks also to the participation of 30 partner GI's that have joined together with a common objective.
The overall assessment of this campaign, according to the report, is very positive. 86% gave it an overall rating of between 7 and 10, while 83% of respondents gave the same rating to the slogan ('Open your eyes, enjoy!'). 88% believe that this advertising strategy is useful to raise awareness of the labels and 85% describe it as 'understandable', while 80% think it is original and explains the values of PDO and PGI products well.
Main results of the campaign show that it is necessary to continue working, both individually by the management bodies of each of the different products, to increase awareness and to extend it to all food products recognized and certified as PDOs and PGIs.