“Born in Spain, Admired all over the World” is the theme for the 2015 Interaceituna cam­paign to pro­mote and inform the inter­na­tional com­mu­nity of the ori­gin, vari­ety, and qual­ity of Spanish olives.

The bold theme, bol­stered by the face of cel­e­brated ten­nis star Rafael Nadal, takes its cue from fact: Spain is the world’s lead­ing pro­ducer and exporter of table olives (and olive oil), with con­sumers from 130 coun­tries pur­chas­ing the prized Spanish fruit in a vari­ety of forms. The cor­re­la­tion with the auda­cious ath­lete draws a par­al­lel to the val­ues being rep­re­sented by the inter-pro­fes­sional orga­ni­za­tion: lead­er­ship, qual­ity, effort, health, and national pride.

With Andalusia and Extremadura the lead­ing regions in the con­tin­ued Spanish olive boom, the country’s sunny, tem­per­ate, year-round cli­mate, and its rich, fer­tile soil are idyl­lic for grow­ing the per­fect olive. The pro­mo­tion pro­vides infor­ma­tion to major mar­kets includ­ing the U.K., U.S., France, India, Russia, Poland and many more about grow­ing con­di­tions, cul­ti­vars, har­vest­ing and pro­cess­ing, the diver­sity of options and adjunct ver­sa­til­ity avail­able within the cat­e­gory, and the health ben­e­fits prof­fered by the fruit.

Kicking off last month at the 2015 Fancy Food Show in New York City, the cam­paign made its debut before approx­i­mately 30,000 vis­i­tors at the Jacob Javitz Center. International Culinary Center pro­fes­sor, Chef Jose Menendez, led a series of tast­ings and demon­stra­tions. In addi­tion to Interaceituna, the ​“Olives from Spain” effort is also sup­ported by Spain’s Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Affairs.

According to Jeffrey Shaw, the direc­tor of Foods from Spain at the Spanish trade com­mis­sion in New York, the global pub­lic rela­tions and mar­ket­ing agency Ketchum is lead­ing the pro­mo­tional cam­paign.