The American Pecan Council has been charged with many task by pecan growers and increasing the demand for pecans is one of the most immediate task where growers want to see results.

The American Pecan Council formed only 2 years ago has made good progress in organizing itself along with hiring a full time staff and an international marketing agency to help with the marketing strategy of the American Pecan. Now the APC has identified what it believes to be the best market to target when advertising pecans. To anyone in the food industry the profile built is no surprise. The target market they have identified is the Generation X and Y moms. The main reason being is that theses are the shoppers for the family and control more than 80% of household spending. I once heard a very insightful statement made by a fishing lure manufacturer. As we were talking I said to him how nice it must be to get to go fishing to test your lures for work. He replied back that of course it’s nice to get to fishing, but I don’t do it for work…..fish don’t buy lures. I found this to be quite insightful, because I then realized how important it was to target the person shopping with the advertisement. He explained to me that the best lures are not the ones that catch the most fish but the ones that catch the most fishermen, because fish don’t buy lures. In that same respect we as growers need to remember that we are not the target market. We are already sold on the pecan. Now it’s our job to inform the rest of the world how great pecans are, and the way to get pecans in the mouths and minds of people is through the grocery shoppers, and the meal prepares. For a more detailed look into the activities of the APC and the marketing campaign you may want to check out a well written article in the Pecan South magazine where they go into more detail on the current marketing efforts of the American Pecan.