By Tim Linden

February 27, 2023

Capitalizing on the bad weather Mother Nature has unleashed on the upper Midwest this winter, indoor grower Square Roots is launching its first-ever consumer advertising campaign today with the tagline “Thrive Inside.”

The campaign will feature about 15 billboards in its target markets as well as video advertising on the Hulu streaming service and a social media campaign on its platforms. The campaign will run for one month through the end of March.

Rachel Winnall, senior director of marketing and communications, said the imagery being used, including the vibrant deep green color of its herbs and salads, is designed to draw a contract between the bleak, dreary weather that is emblematic of winter and the “warm, lush, inside environment” in which Square Roots grows its products.

Square Roots was launched in 2016 as an indoor growing concept that could bring year-round, local production to communities around the country. It accelerated its production in 2019 by co-building facilities with a couple of foodservice partners. This new advertising campaign is focusing on the Midwest cities served by its facilities in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and Springfield, OH.  Winnall said that the company limits shipments to no more than 200 miles from each facility to ensure the freshness and local nature of its products, which are its key value propositions.

Winnall said while much of its production is sold to its foodservice partners, production has ramped up to the point that it has sufficient supplies to launch this campaign, which is focused on its retail products sold at many chains and independent grocers in those core markets. “Our goal is to help sales and increase brand awareness,” she said. “The campaign is designed to drive traffic to our social media platforms.”

She added that this campaign could be considered a trial balloon as Square Roots is a “scrappy start-up” that thrives with a “methodology of test and learn.”

She added that the success of the campaign will be measured in many ways, including increased retail sales and engagement on its social media platforms, as well as the impact at the store level. Meijer, Whole Foods, and Spartan Nash are among the well-known supermarket chains that carry the Square Roots produce packs.

Its portfolio of products is led by fresh basil and includes four different salad mixes that include various leafy greens and micro greens. The campaign will emphasize that all of the company’s offerings are grown with no pesticides and are non-GMO.

Winnall told The Produce News that an advertising campaign has to limit its messaging as there are only so many concepts that can be successful at one time. She said it is brand awareness and the inherent benefits of the Square Roots brand that are the key messages, which includes the indoor growing concept. “For most people, winter is about surviving, not thriving. Their goal is simply to make it through the freezing, bleak months,” she said. “But at Square Roots, we thrive year-round. Our farms are lush, vibrant spaces where people and plants can flourish, especially when it’s cold out.”

She continued: “Our first-ever advertising campaign invites consumers into this bright, fresh world. It features produce that was, quite literally, grown during blizzards and brutal cold fronts.”

About Tim Linden

Tim Linden grew up in a produce family as both his father and grandfather spent their business careers on the wholesale terminal markets in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Tim graduated from San Diego State University in 1974 with a degree in journalism. Shortly thereafter he began his career at The Packer where he stayed for eight years, leaving in 1983 to join Western Growers as editor of its monthly magazine. In 1986, Tim launched Champ Publishing as an agricultural publishing specialty company.

Today he is a contract publisher for several trade associations and writes extensively on all aspects of the produce business. He began writing for The Produce News in 1997, and currently wears the title of Editor at Large.