As part of National Rice Month programming, USA Rice partnered with premium appliance and rice cooker manufacturer Zojirushi to celebrate the 30th anniversary of National Rice Month (NRM) through a diverse collection of promotional giveaways. The giveaway prizes varied per promotion, but always included a Zojirushi rice cooker and sampling of U.S.-grown rice varieties. These promotional activations took place throughout the month of September and featured both Zojirushi and USA Rice talking points, along with National Rice Month information.
Youtube influencer Emmymade produced a video that highlighted multiple U.S.-grown varieties, garnered 2.5 million impressions, and included a giveaway to her 2.1 million channel subscribers. Winners of this giveaway received a 5.5 cup Zojirushi NS-WTC10 rice cooker and a selection of U.S.-grown rice that included organic long grain, sprouted medium grain, arborio, jasmine, brown long grain, and brown rice grits. Instagram influencer June Quan of @Stirandstyle posted a giveaway to her 317,000 followers celebrating NRM as well, with a similar prize for the winner.
JustOneCookBook, an online guide to Japanese cuisine and culture, hosted an editorial giveaway where they discussed the nutrition benefits of GABA, why to choose U.S.-grown rice, and the importance of National Rice Month. The JustOneCookBook promotion received more than 8,300 consumer entries. Winners of this giveaway received a NS-WTC10 rice cooker and 12 pounds of U.S.-grown sprouted medium grain rice.
Three of USA Rice’s Registered Dietitian influencers created additional standalone posts specific to the joint National Rice Month giveaway. In each of the posts, past rice recipes were highlighted, National Rice Month information was presented, and rice nutritional benefits were featured. These giveaways had attendees follow USA Rice and tag a friend for a chance to win a Zojirushi rice cooker and 30th NRM prize pack.
“Teaming up with Zojirushi to celebrate the 30th anniversary of National Rice Month has been tremendous. We were able to build upon the strong foundation of our traditional NRM programming and explore new and unique avenues to reach more consumers and spread the reach of U.S.-grown rice,” said Cameron Jacobs, director of domestic promotion. “We thank Zojirushi for the promotional partnership and look forward to working with them in the future.”