Annual volume growing by around 20 percent and the overall value doubling. Market share of 93.4 percent.
This is the result of the Olives, Spain’s Superfood campaign in China over its five years of steady work. The programme we implemented, organised by ICEX and Interaceituna, helped turn around negative market trends, grow the olive category and strengthen Spain as the clear market leader for olives in China.
The campaign was very varied, with both online and offline integrated activities that yielded amazing results. Only in the last year:
Online, the campaign grew its community by 28,000+ new followers and generated 8.33 million organic impressions across platforms. Paid advertising more than doubled its KPI target, delivering 22.35 million impressions against a goal of 11 million.
On the ground:
- Restaurant collaborations stayed at the heart of the strategy. Spanish olives entered 64 restaurants over 18 weeks, and many of the dishes stayed on the menus once the promotion finished.
- The Michelin Star Chef Tour with Javier Estévez grew to 3 cities over 6 weeks. It brought together 90 industry professionals and helped strengthen the idea of olives as a versatile ingredient for different dining settings.
- In Chengdu, on campus activities reached more than 2,000 students and teachers through exhibitions and masterclasses. A group of 41 culinary students also completed structured training focused on Spanish olives.
- The Pizza Championship gathered 19 professional competitors and more than 500 professional visitors. It introduced 15 olive flavour variations across three varieties.
- Retail promotions ran in Beijing and Shanghai across 8 stores with 57 SKUs. Olive tastings took place every weekend in each store. On e commerce platforms, a partner built the olives category from zero, reaching new consumers and creating more than 3.1 million impressions across the country.
- A new highlight in 2025 was the State Banquet Master Chef Online Courses with Live Streaming. It mixed a nation wide live session with online cooking lessons, attracting more than 120,000 users and reaching 30.8 million impressions.
Many thanks to all institutional partners, industry stakeholders and team members for making this journey possible. The work done over these five years leaves a strong base for the future.
Five years on, Spain’s Superfood is finding its place on China’s tables. 🫒
