Kevin Hamilton, vice president of global marketing and communications at U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council and North American Blueberry Council,
is an accomplished global marketing leader with a 20-year track record of building, transforming and elevating some of the world’s most recognizable food and beverage brands. Most recently, Hamilton launched the “Go Big” campaign for blueberries, for which The Packer has named him its 2025 Produce Marketer of the Year.
Earlier in his career, Hamilton held roles at Procter & Gamble, Clorox and The Coca-Cola Co., before moving into agency strategy and consulting roles supporting Fortune 500 and emerging brands alike.
Hamilton’s first role in agriculture was at Avocados From Mexico, where he led the creative, brand strategy and media execution behind one of the most successful produce marketing campaigns in history — including AFM’s first-ever Super Bowl commercial, a cultural milestone that catapulted the brand into the national spotlight and remains central to its marketing success today.
The Packer recently sat down with Hamilton to discuss his career highlights, shifting the demand curve for blueberries and more.
Editor’s note: The following has been edited for length and clarity.
How did you get into agriculture?
Hamilton: I was just telling a friend the other day that I never would have guessed that after the career stops I had early on and two business schools — three, if you count Spain — that I’d end up in agriculture. With Avocados From Mexico, I was at a marketing agency when I got a phone call from a recruiter who said, ‘Hey, they’re starting this new organization. They’re trying to build it with people that have CPG backgrounds, and we think you could be a pretty good fit. Would you be interested?’ And that’s first time I ever thought about agriculture. I thought I was going to be a CPG guy my entire life.
Leading the creative and brand strategy behind AFM’s first Super Bowl commercial is impressive. Do you think your CPG background has enabled you to succeed in produce?
I think it’s a credit to Alvaro Luque and the vision and the courage he had as well as the vision and courage of the packers in the U.S. and the growers in Mexico had at the time. When we were proposing this, we didn’t have credibility yet. It’s one thing to do the fourth one, after one, two and three, but the first one and the amount of investment that it takes to fund an entire campaign — all of it takes a leap of faith.
I think my contribution was trying to make it the best that it could be, and in terms of concepting, leading the ideation, leading the governance behind the scenes, in terms of the approvals — all those things — and then actually executing it with success.
What I’m trying to bring to the blueberry industry now is this understanding that if you’re going to do this, you might as well be successful doing it. And you have to understand that in marketing, being successful is standing out from the crowd. And to do that, you can’t be the same. You can’t get caught in a sea of sameness.
So, you’re back in agriculture at USHBC. How does it feel?
It’s great, and I’m back because I believe the same opportunity exists for the blueberry industry as it did for avocados back then. In the U.S., the problem we need to solve for blueberries is we have to shift the demand curve to accommodate for the shift in supply curve.
In the last 12 to 15, years, there’s been a dramatic shift in global blueberry production and, certainly in the U.S., global importation of product that has shifted the supply curve. To maintain and protect the profitability of the industry, we need to work on shifting the demand curve. In a lot of ways, the same runway of opportunity that I saw in the avocado world currently exists in blueberries.
The “Go Big” campaign for blueberries is fantastic. What’s the mission behind it, and where do you aim to take it?
It’s an attempt to elevate the narrative — not change it — but elevate it. It’s about taking what we are known for, continuing that as a foundational piece, and adding to the story.
‘Go Big’ is a campaign-based attempt to collate the many benefits —functional and emotional — of blueberries, many of which have not really been advertised or promoted in an intentional way. And we need to do it in a creative and concise way because we know that humans want shortcuts to everything. We can’t go to them and say, blueberries are this and this and this, right? That won’t work.
I think historically the industry has thought about the promotion of blueberries almost in isolation of the reality that consumers have choices.
Consumers have a multitude of options within berries, within produce, within food, within indulgence and within health, so we have to give them a reason to choose us. And that’s the key. Within a set of choices, how do we build a story so that we are chosen amongst the competition. Our competitive advantage is the collection of all of these benefits.
What advice do you have for produce marketers on a budget? Can a small marketing budget still create a campaign with big impact?
I think you can you create powerful marketing on a small budget. And I think there’s an indirect correlation between size of budget and how different you need to be because it goes back to standing out. In fact, I would argue many of the lower budget to no budget players out there, whether it’s agriculture or otherwise, are very, very creative because they have to be.
The biggest challenge in this very large and diverse country is making your product have national impact. And when you don’t have the dollars, you’ve got to be as creative as you can.
And there’s no reason that we need to limit the total addressable market to just produce. We could be playing in snacking in a much bigger way. We could be playing in confectionery in a major way, and there are cross-category, natural fits that we probably aren’t as a collective industry taking advantage of to help grow our sales and help grow our presence in households.
Why not go get it? Because it’s out there for us to get.
Award Presentation at IFPA Global Show
Kevin Hamilton will be recognized for his exceptional contribution to the produce industry, alongside Dennis Payne, The Packer’s Produce Retailer of the Year, at The Packer’s booth No. 3105 during the International Fresh Produce Association Global Produce and Floral Show in Anaheim, Calif., at 4 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 17.
