essential COSTA RICA Puts Costa Rican Produce in Front of Millions of European Shoppers via Amazon Ads

Country-of-origin marketing used to mean a flag sticker on a crate. Costa Rica just rewrote the playbook—turning bananas, pineapples, coffee and cassava into streaming content, voice-assistant recipes and grocery-bag storytelling for millions of European shoppers.

The national brand essential COSTA RICA has launched the second phase of "The Natural Choice," a multichannel international campaign running across the UK, Germany and Spain. It spans Amazon's advertising ecosystem—Prime Video, Fire TV, Alexa and Amazon Fresh Bags—plus digital media and more than 240 in-store tastings at major European retailers.

The pitch to consumers is deceptively simple: discover the freshness, quality and origin of Costa Rican bananas, pineapples, coffee and cassava. The delivery mechanism is anything but simple.

Meeting Consumers Where They Stream, Cook and Shop

Built with the Amazon Ads Brand Innovation Lab, the campaign is engineered to reach people during both entertainment and shopping moments. It leans on video content, recipes, product tastings and interactive experiences, organized around creative themes like "from our land to your table" and "the natural choice for a modern lifestyle."

Across the three markets, "The Natural Choice" shows up through:

• An Amazon Brand Store
• Advertising on Prime Video
• A personalized Fire TV homepage
• Alexa brand experiences in the UK and Germany
• Amazon Fresh Bags in the UK and Spain

At the creative core are 12 original recipe videos—four per market—developed by local chefs who reinterpret Costa Rican ingredients through the lens of their own culture and cuisine. It's a smart move: origin credibility from Costa Rica, plus local relevance from chefs shoppers already trust.

"With essential COSTA RICA, we are constantly looking for ways to introduce our agricultural value proposition to European consumers in a way that is innovative but, above all, natural," said Adriana Acosta, director of essential COSTA RICA. "Our collaboration with the Amazon Ads Brand Innovation Lab allows us to integrate into consumers' daily lives, whether they're preparing a recipe with Alexa, discovering Costa Rican ingredients on Fire TV before watching a movie, or finding recipe inspiration on their Amazon Fresh delivery bag. This campaign not only reinforces the positioning of Costa Rica's agricultural sector, it's also a concrete way for the Costa Rican Foreign Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (PROCOMER) to support one of the country's most important productive sectors."

A First-of-Its-Kind Export Play

This phase builds on the first installment of "Natural Choice," developed with the Amazon Ads Brand Innovation Lab in the second half of 2025. That earlier effort was the first-ever national campaign to promote an export brand across multiple markets via Amazon Ads—rolling out in the UK, Spain and Germany using Fire TV, Prime Video, the Amazon Brand Store, Amazon Fresh Bags, Amazon Lockers and a custom Alexa experience, backed by digital platforms and high-impact media placements.

"What I particularly appreciate about this campaign is how it fits naturally into consumers' daily lives," said Kate McCagg, global head of the Amazon Ads Brand Innovation Lab. "Whether they're watching a recipe on Fire TV, cooking hands-free with Alexa, or unpacking their groceries, Costa Rica's agricultural story travels with them through their day and brings useful content and a bit of energy to all slices of life."

The Export Numbers Behind the Campaign

The marketing spend is following real demand. According to PROCOMER data, exports of green coffee, pineapple, banana and cassava to Spain, Germany and the UK rose 23.6% in the first four months of 2026 versus the same period in 2025, climbing from USD 142.2 million to USD 175.8 million.

That growth reflects European consumers who increasingly prioritize quality, sustainability, traceability and origin. The campaign is timed to late spring and early summer in Europe—prime season for promoting fresh produce and wellness-oriented lifestyles—while reinforcing Costa Rica's association with sustainability, biodiversity and the freshness of its agricultural products and production processes.

Why It Matters

For foodservice executives, procurement directors and institutional buyers, this is a signal about where origin storytelling and demand generation are heading. A national brand is now using retail-media and connected-TV infrastructure to build consumer pull for commodity produce—the same tools operators and suppliers can tap to move product.

Three practical takeaways for the food and beverage industry:

• Origin and traceability sell. European buying behavior is rewarding provenance, sustainability and quality claims. If you source Costa Rican bananas, pineapple, coffee or cassava, expect stronger consumer recognition—and use it on menus and shelf tags.
• Retail media is a produce channel now. Amazon Ads, Prime Video and Alexa aren't just for CPG launches. Suppliers and brands promoting fresh categories can borrow this "content-in-daily-life" model to drive trial.
• Local chefs bridge the credibility gap. Twelve market-specific recipe videos show how to make an imported ingredient feel native. Operators can apply the same logic to LTOs and sourcing narratives.

Rising 23.6% export growth also means more consistent supply and marketing support behind these categories—useful context for anyone negotiating produce contracts or planning seasonal menus around fresh, better-for-you ingredients.

For more on how brands are rethinking sourcing and beverage-and-food partnerships, see our coverage of why local roots and bold flavor belong on today's menu and how Sunny Sky Products is setting the standard for partnerships.

Are retail-media platforms the future of produce and origin marketing? Sound off in the comments—and tell us how you're using provenance to sell more on your menu or shelf.

Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine’s “Top 40 Under 40” for founding American Wholesale Floral. Politz is also the founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.