USSEC recently promoted soybean oil in Mexican hypermarkets.  Consultant Jorge Martinez, in conjunction with a soybean oil refinery, conducted a promotion campaign of soybean oil in a major hypermarket chain.  The campaign took place in the Mexican cities of Leon, Morelia, Puebla, Xalapa, Los Cabos, Veracruz, Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez.  The promoted product was a brand of 100% soybean oil recently introduced in these stores with an institutional size of 20 liters.  A booth was installed in each store to promote the oil with a demonstrator frying chicken pieces using the oil and inviting customers to taste them.  The promoter also explained the characteristics and health benefits of soybean oil, as well as its superior performance in frying foods over other edible oils.

An average of 200 consumers visited the booth to try the product in each store during each day of the promotion.  This promotion campaign proved to be a success.  Not only did product sales increase, valuable information was obtained from consumers such as the desire for smaller sized containers and their perceived attributes of soybean oil, describing it as a reasonably priced, healthy oil with good flavor that’s not greasy in fried foods.