The United States has established itself as the world's third-largest olive oil market, with consumption exceeding 400,000 tonnes a year and closing in on the two leading consumer countries: Spain, at around 500,000 tonnes, and Italy, at 460,000. It is also the Spanish sector's second-largest export market, having surpassed one billion euros in turnover there in some years.
Against this backdrop, the Spanish Olive Oil Interprofessional has unveiled the most ambitious promotional campaign in its history at New York's Rockefeller Center: three years in duration, a budget of 22 million euros, and the global brand Olive Oils from Spain as its umbrella, under the strapline It's All in a Drop.
A market in transition
The initiative comes at a moment of realignment. According to official US statistics, the country's total imports through May stood at around 172,000 tonnes, 9.12% down on the same period the previous year. Spain accounted for 54,778 tonnes, close to 32% of the total, with a year-on-year decline of 21.45% that has seen it narrowly cede first position to Tunisia.
The difference in positioning between the two origins is significant in value terms: Spanish product was sold at 5.37 dollars per kilo, against a Tunisian average of 4.01 dollars. The tariff framework applied to European olive oil accounts for much of this shift, in a market where farming organisations have also been calling for closer attention to the quality and food safety guarantees of oils sourced from third countries.
Differentiation by origin and varietal diversity
The campaign's strategic thrust is to link the product with its country of origin and to showcase the diversity of Spanish oils, with extra virgin as the centrepiece.
Speaking at the launch, chef and author Andy Baraghani, a contributor to The New York Times Cooking, noted that American consumers are beginning to grasp that olive oil is not a homogeneous product and that, in Spain's case, it has a markedly regional character. In his view, an understanding of that diversity is gradually being absorbed into American cooking.
Javier Sierra, Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Counsellor at the Spanish Embassy in the United States, said the campaign should help narrow the gap between the commercial leadership of Spanish companies in that country and an image of Spain that remains only partially built in the minds of American consumers.
Teresa Pérez, manager of the Interprofessional, stressed that the effort comes precisely when it is most needed, at a time when trade tensions could call into question a leadership position established a decade ago.
The campaign has begun with its first digital and outdoor activations, among them advertising on New York taxis.
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