ARLINGTON, VA – Jasmine rice consistently shows high levels of consumer interest and with enhanced U.S. quality of late, it represents the greatest potential for increasing U.S. market share. Last year USA Rice launched a national promotion campaign for the aromatic wunderkind, and while the results were impressive (see
USA Rice Daily, January 23, 2026), it was high time
The Rice Stuff did a deeper dive.
USA Rice Vice President of Domestic Promotion Cameron Jacobs, who developed and oversaw the program, joined podcast host Michael Klein to talk about the program’s history and lessons learned on the
latest episode of
The Rice Stuff.
The pair talked about the tactics that reached consumers at multiple touch points and across various media, awards the campaign has received, and the development of the creative elements.
“The creatives leaned into the idea of consumers getting to know jasmine rice like finding a match on a popular dating site and I wanted to ask Cameron about early drafts that were maybe a little spicy,” Klein said.
“With ‘jasmine’ actually being a woman’s name and the parallels between dating and eating a meal, it was all fertile ground and the creative team had a lot of fun,” Jacobs said. “At the end of the day, we wanted to create a memorable ad campaign to put smiles on consumers’ faces and let them know about U.S. jasmine. And that we did."
In addition to the campaign, the pair discussed Klein’s NCAA men’s basketball bracket that was hopeless. Jacobs, USA Rice’s in-house basketball commissioner, had little sympathy.
New episodes of
The Rice Stuff are published twice each month and can be found on your favorite podcast services or
www.TheRiceStuffPodcast.com.