Becel spreads the love of avocados

Avocados are the hot item in the produce section, and now the goodness of the green fruit is popping up in the dairy case.

Unilever-owned Becel has launched Becel with Avocado Oil, a margarine spread made with a blend of canola oil and avocado oil, along with ingredients such as buttermilk powder, water and salt.

“Avocados and avocado oil are extremely on trend and extremely popular… and consumers are looking for more ways to incorporate them into their diets,” says Nicole Fischer, senior brand manager, Becel. “There’s only so many ways you can have avocado toast or guacamole or salad with avocados, so we wanted to give consumers an easy way that they can get the goodness of avocado oil in their everyday spreading, cooking and baking applications.”

The new product is also aligned with Becel’s heart-health positioning, since avocados contain healthy poly- and monounsaturated fats, adds Fischer.

The brand is targeting consumers 25 to 40 “who don’t engage as much with the margarine category, by giving them something more on trend,” says Fischer.

Despite avocados’ growing popularity, a survey commissioned by Becel found half of Canadians don’t know how to incorporate avocados into their meals and recipes.

To give home cooks some know-how, Becel hosted a two-day pop-up restaurant called Avo Alley in the Graffiti Alley area in downtown Toronto. Becel partnered with chef Matt Dean Pettit from local restaurant Rock Lobster and Matty’s Seafood, who developed recipes that incorporate Becel with Avocado Oil. The recipes, along with an assortment of recipes from Becel, are featured on Becel.ca.

The launch is also being supported by a mass campaign including TV, digital, out-of-home and in-store marketing.

Becel with Avocado Oil comes in two sizes: 427 grams ($3.99-$4.99) and 850 grams ($5.99 to $6.99).