A discussion about sales, sales tips and advice, and about those who land the deal

The Maui Pineapple Company of Maui, Hawaii, donated their fresh Hawaiian pineapple to facilitate a friendly wager between the two cities of the universities competing in the NCAA football 2008 Sugar Bowl game, and in the process pulled off a very savvy sales & marketing coup, showing that it always pays to be a part of a major sporting event.

According to Maui Pineapple Company’s blog, PineappleNews.com, the wager was between the cities of Honolulu and Athens-Clarke, the home cities of the two teams playing in the 2008 Sugar Bowl, the University of Hawaii and the University of Georgia. If Hawaii lost, they would have to send Hawaiian pineapples to Athens-Clarke, and if Georgia lost, they would have to send Georgia peaches to Honolulu. If you remember, Georgia won 42-10, so Honolulu had to come up with the goods. To help settle the bet, Maui Pineapple Company rose to the occasion and donated a dozen Maui Gold® pineapples to the cause.

It sounds like such a simple thing to do—donate a dozen pineapples—which it is, and as a result, Maui Pineapple Company received major national and local news exposure, helping to promote the brand and most likely increase sales. I commend the creative thinking by the Maui Pineapple Company marketing team—a lot of media exposure gained for a relatively tiny expenditure. There were news articles written and even TV news story coverage of the delivery of the pineapples.