The Specialty Food Association will soon launch its first ad campaign designed to raise consumer awareness of its members' products.

The New York City-based association said the campaign would coincide with its upcoming trade show and include efforts in three retail stores to get more shoppers to buy specialty foods through in-store signage, sampling and promotional discounts.

"Consumers want the very best from the food they buy. They want distinctive products they trust made by people who care," SPA President Ann Daw said. "Now is the moment for specialty food."

The advertising campaign will spotlight four specialty food companies and the people behind them. Foodmakers will be featured on billboards going up June 22 in Times Square—near Javits Center, home to SFA's Summer Fancy Food Show—and near the entrance to the Holland Tunnel to New Jersey. The ads also will be in 260 subway stations in Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx and Brooklyn.

Madwell, a Brooklyn-based creative agency, created the advertising campaign. Edgewood Consulting Group is working with SFA to manage the in-store tests, which the association hopes to expand to other U.S. markets in the future. http://bit.ly/1J2scYZ

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