DENVER — It’s that time of year, again: school is back in session, and “Linda” is helping her family get back into a routine. She is focused on positioning her family for success, ensuring everyone gets a good meal, enough sleep and ample study time. Her shopping activity is becoming routine and regimented again, and she is especially conscious of her family’s budget. She is looking for quick meal solutions to make her family happy and relies heavily on family favorites—where potatoes fit perfectly!
“Linda” is a United States Potato Board (USPB) consumer target audience (female, 25-54 years with kids under 18 at home). She accounts for 40 percent of all fresh potato consumption. Just as potato category sales vary in nature from season to season, so does how Linda thinks about potatoes, shops for potatoes and serves potatoes to her family. Therefore, to further increase our relevance to Linda and her family, the USPB has identified how her concerns, needs and behavior change with the seasons, and found ways to communicate how potatoes fit.
Linda’s five distinct potato seasons are: “Back-on-Track”, “Plus-Up Potatoes”, “Nurture Me”, “Spring Ahead” and “Lighten Up”. During each season, the USPB will leverage the unique qualities of potatoes to meet her emotional needs during these times.
The USPB public relations team activated the “Back-on-Track” season (late August-October) with a business news release announcing potatoes were in good supply despite the drought this year. This release assured consumers they could feel confident their favorite vegetable was still the best nutritional value in the produce section. Just a few days later, on August 23, the team distributed a multimedia news release (MNR). The MNR packaged all aspects of the “Back-on-Track” seasonal campaign in one place, including a press release, new recipes developed by “Our Family Eats” blogger spokesperson Susan Schuman and corresponding photographs, Pinterest contest information, Facebook “Real Moms” chat details and more. The two media communications generated more than 36 million impressions within 24 hours of each release.
“It makes sense this news was met with such high media interest,” said Meredith Myers, USPB Public Relations Manager. “Linda relies on potatoes as a nutritious, family-friendly pantry staple, and we’re providing inspiration to solve the dinnertime dilemma.”
The season’s digital program officially launched at the International Food Bloggers Conference (IFBC) in Portland, OR, August 24-27. Three-hundred blogging participants were introduced to the “Real Moms, Real Meals” program and spokesperson, Susan Schuman. This program element is aimed at using influential “Real Moms” and potato lovers to champion the potato’s important role at dinnertime each season. The USPB “Real Meals: Pin It to Win It” contest was announced along with a Facebook Chat.
The IFBC was chosen as a venue, because food bloggers are a highly interactive and influential community. “We call these bloggers ‘Linda with a microphone,’ because they are predominately women, 25-54 with kids at home, who are skilled in the kitchen and write about it,” Myers said. “Her ‘microphone’ is her blog. When she writes about potatoes, a very wide audience hears about it.”
The “Back on Track” activities and stories also were included in the USPB’s new Supermarket RD e-newsletter sent to more than 400 influential contacts established over the past few years. This communication was designed to give this audience up-to-date potato news, nutrition information and retail insights, along with seasonal recipes they can use in their shopper communications, social media and in-store promotions.
For more information, please visit the USPB Public Relations and Nutrition program online.
For more information on the USPB as the nation’s potato marketing organization, positioned as the “catalyst for positive change,” and the central organizing force in implementing programs that will increase demand for potatoes, please visit www.uspotatoes.com.
David Fairbourn is Manager, Industry Communications & Policy, at the United States Potato Board in Denver. The mission of the USPB is to increase demand for potatoes and potato products through an integrated promotion program, thereby providing US producers with expanding markets for their production. David can be contacted at 303-369-7783 or david.fairbourn@uspotatoes.com. For complete information about the programs, ROI results, resources and tools available to all members of the industry through the USPB, please visit www.uspotatoes.com. The United States Potato Board—Maximizing Return on Grower Investment.
Source: United States Potato Board
