EEUU: Wisconsin potato promotion targets consumers and retailers

Dana Rady, the WPVGA’s director of promotion, communication and consumer education said the association also educates consumers on potatoes’ natural health benefits while providing ideas for quick, easy and delicious ways to prepare them.

Rady, in an email interview with The Produce News, added that on the retail promotion side, WPVGA will continue providing one-quarter-sized Healthy Grown and Buy Local bins to stores through Wisconsin’s potato suppliers. The Association will do the same with the Healthy Grown and Buy Local Kwik Lok tags.  Retailers reported a sales jump from these materials, “so these are definitely avenues we intend to continue.”

This fall WPVGA’s promotions committee is giving away a 2015 Fat Bob Harley Davidson to the retail store with the most creative Wisconsin Potatoes display. The display should be up during the month of October for Wisconsin’s Potatopalooza month; the winner will be chosen by early November.

Two seasons ago, WPVGA rolled out a promotional bus, the Spudmobile. This “continues to maintain a very busy schedule, traveling throughout Wisconsin and the Midwest.” Rady added, “We are excited to have this traveling billboard spreading word of the Wisconsin potato industry and sharing the great things our farmers are doing. With its success in its first two years of operation, and now beginning a third, we are finding more demand for it in other areas of the Midwest. Since its debut, we haven’t shied away from taking the Spudmobile to events in surrounding states, but now those events are becoming more and more frequent, which proves we are achieving our goals of expanding Wisconsin’s message.”

Given the Spudmobile’s increasingly busy schedule, WPVGA just hired Doug Foemmel as part-time assistant to help Jim Zdroik, the coordinator of community relations. Foemmel lives in Stevens Point and will be assisting Zdroik on Spudmobile-related activities and events.

This summer, WPVGA, which is located in Antigo, WI, also unveiled a new mascot. “Spudly” sports a Powered by Wisconsin Potatoes jersey and a physique that is definitely “Powered by Wisconsin Potatoes.” He has attended a number of events since his debut in July.

“He showcases the epitome of what we want; people to walk away knowing about potatoes; that they contribute in a very positive way to healthy, active lifestyles, especially when they are prepared in healthy ways,” Rady indicated.