SERVICES
Watermelon Promotion Board
Strategy
The Watermelon Board sought to increase watermelon’s relevance among registered dietitians by addressing key barriers—such as perceptions of seasonality, limited usage ideas, and lack of awareness of its unique nutrition profile. Our challenge was to create a comprehensive, credible, and practical resource that spoke to dietitians across diverse sectors—media, school nutrition, foodservice, sports, private practice, and retail.
We developed a dynamic, segmented RD Toolkit that spotlighted watermelon’s leading health attributes (hydration, lycopene, citrulline), affordability (17 cents per serving), and sustainability (use-the-whole-watermelon messaging). Each section was tailored to the audience’s specific needs:
- Media RDs received ready-made story starters and fresh talking points.
- School nutrition pros got Smart Snack-aligned messaging, cafeteria activity ideas, and free education posters.
- Culinary foodservice RDs were provided with seasonally driven menu inspiration and cutting/yield studies.
- Sports dietitians were given research-backed data to support hydration and muscle recovery messaging.
- Private practice RDs received planning and pairing tools to help clients incorporate watermelon into their everyday diets.
- Supermarket RDs got shopper insights, POS support, and seasonal demo concepts.
Results
The toolkit reinforced watermelon’s year-round appeal and positioned it as a health-forward, RD-endorsed fruit. It has been used by hundreds of dietitians across multiple practice areas, featured in national media segments, shared during school nutrition trainings and webinars, and leveraged by supermarket dietitians for Facebook Lives and seasonal displays. It successfully armed RDs with fresh reasons to talk about watermelon and inspired them to do just that.