This year the Idaho Potato Commission participated in the 37th edition of Abastur from August 31 to September 2, 2022, as an exhibitor. Abastur is the largest business platform in Latin America, where IPC successfully had contact with the most important suppliers and buyers for the foodservice industry.
On the 3-day exhibition, more than 80 key leads from the industry were generated at the Idaho Potato Commission booth, thus achieving new business opportunities. Likewise, more than 300 tasting samples were offered with the objective that the event’s attendants could enjoy the authentic flavor of Idaho potatoes.
This year we held a sampling program at Costco in late July and early August. For this activation, fresh Idaho potatoes were tasted in 17 Costco stores in 6 cities around the country.
The objective of the activity was for people to taste the unique flavor of Idaho potatoes, how they are prepared and to identify the “Grown in Idaho” seal as a guarantee that they are acquiring authentic Idaho potatoes of the highest quality.
During the two tasting weekends, more than 2,175 bags of 10 pounds of fresh potatoes were sold, equivalent to $345.8k in sales, thus obtaining an ROI of 195%
This year we held three weeks of Idaho Potato samplings at 36 City Club stores across the country from July through September.
The objective of the activity was for people to know about the unique and delicious flavor of Idaho potatoes, how they are prepared, and to identify the “Grown in Idaho” seal as a guarantee that they are getting the highest quality and authentic Idaho potatoes.
During this month and a half, Idaho potatoes in frozen format in wavy and straight cuts were used for sampling days, reaching sales of more than 851 boxes of frozen potatoes, which are equal to more than $450k in sales, therefore obtaining an ROI of 41%.
For the October demos, an activation was held at City Club San Jeronimo with the presence of Paola Longoria, where a Meet and Greet took place with the athlete. Where the people had the opportunity to meet her, take pictures and sign autographs. This demo had around 50 attendees who were in the store for the event and a huge reach in networks due to the communication that Paola made on Instagram where she has more than 324,000 followers.
The event consisted of a Christmas promotion together with the SuperChivas supermarket chain to position the Russet potatoes as well as the “Grown in Idaho” seal.
The draw was promoted in point of sale with an outdoor canvas in the stores and promotion in cash register, social networks (Facebook and Instagram) and SuperChivas website, posters in strategic points of the city of Mexicali, 40 monthly spots on local television, Mention in local radio and RadioChivas that is reproduced in the 21 branches of this supermarket.
The promotion stated that customers had to make a minimum purchase of 350 Mexican pesos in the chain to participate in monthly consumption vouchers for one year.
There were a total of 21 winners who will receive monthly vouchers and we achieved 100% Idaho presente at the point of sale
On November 24th, in coordination with the Idaho State Department of Agriculture, we celebrated a Thanksgiving dinner which representatives of supermarkets, restaurants, media in Mexico attended, in addition to Thomas Reott, Consul General of the United States in Tijuana.
“The objective was to show the richness and variety of food produced in Idaho, as a reflection of its natural and industrial characteristics that allows it to create more than 185 commodities and that place it in the top 10 of the main agricultural producers in the United States” (siempre la noticia, 2021)
The Idaho Russet potato was highlighted, as well as the yellow onion.
The Chef in charge of developing recipes was Javier Plasencia with more than 50 k followers on Instagram.
Chef Javier Plasencia created a 5-course menu incorporating Idaho ingredients in a unique way:
IPC had the initiative to promote Idaho Potatoes as a healthy carbohydrate since one of the biggest challenges of potatoes is the belief that carbohydrates provide negative effects in diets. Through athletes such as Paola Longoria, Charlie Sarmiento and Oso Negro a “good carbohydrates” campaign was launched.
The biggest challenge was to find the athletes and spokesperson for the campaign, since they had to show a good image and be an example for consumers. We managed to contact Paola Longoria, one of the best racquetball players in the world, with 334mil followers on Instagram, Paola has been talking about the IPC for 3 months and has made recipes, routines, and publications with more than 1700 likes about the benefits of potatoes. Charlie Sarmiento has carried publicity on his networks and has given talks on health and sports with more than 480 reproductions. While IPC became an official sponsor of the Ultra Marathon “Black Bear” with whom we will have advertising throughout 2021 and until the race in January 2022 with banners of the account in training and advertising on social networks of the race.
The Potato Lover’s Month promotion was an exhibition contest that was held from October 17th to November 17th in stores of the retail chain CALIMAX, with the objective of increasing visibility and sales of Idaho potatoes in 89 stores in the region of Baja California as well as guide the consumer in the selection and purchase of Idaho potatoes.
The biggest challenge throughout this activity was to be able to have visibility due to the contingency of COVID-19
Potato Lover’s Month was achieved through retail marketing activities, such as:
The winning Potato Lovers Month stores were Cortes, Chapultepec and Xochimilco with sales increases ranging from 44 to 54.98%
Paola Longoria, our Idaho Potatoes brand ambassador, competed in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics giving IPC visibility in the world’s most important events and with the challenge of spreading information about nutrition in Idaho Potatoes.
This effective campaign was an extension of the sponsorship that IPC has with the athlete, where she shares 3 stories and 1 post on Instagram and Facebook every month. This communication plan was used for the long-awaited world event, where Paola recorded with the Idaho Potatoes mascot, “Spuddy buddy”, tagging IPC’s official social networks. Her Instagram account currently has more than 355,000 followers and a circle of more than 1,587,147 followers on Facebook, a community that continues to grow thanks to the athlete’s popularity.
The campaign successfully included stories within the sporting events and photographs in emblematic places of the venue, which exceeded 3,928 likes on Instagram and 11,344 likes on Facebook.
Imalinx executed a #StayHome campaign on behalf of the Idaho Potato Commission with the goal of creating a unique consumer program that encouraged potato consumption.
The proposal was executed by renowned chefs on the Mexican border: Adria Marina, Bianca Castro and Javier Plascencia, who developed home cooking recipes with Idaho potatoes as the main ingredient. The chefs used different digital platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram Lives and YouTube where they spread their own recipes.
Likewise, the activity was merged with a retail marketing strategy, with printed QR codes which, send the user to one of the recipes developed by the chefs. These eight recipes were published at the official site in a new section “Recipe of the week”.
The proposal was accompanied by a communication activity in Calimax, a supermarket chain in Tijuana, where different content with Idaho potatoes was published through social networks, as well as radio and television ads on its internal channel. As a surprise activity, people also participated in an activity to win exclusive prizes for the brand from their homes through platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.
In conjunction with the Retail Chain Calimax, the exhibition contest between the stores was held in all its formats with Idaho Potatoes (bags or bulk) 81 stores from Tijuana, Mexicali and, Ensenada participated in the objectives of the promotion: increase idaho’s potato supply and train buyers and warehouse personnel on proper handling and storage of the product.
The promotion lasted 4 weeks and Wilcox sent over 28 loads of Idaho potatoes.
In addition, the activity was complemented with a communication plan in conjunction with Calimax on its social networks, television ads and, radio. Also, a publication at the newspaper Frontera.
Sales of Idaho potatoes in the three winning stores increased by 62 % and, in total had a reach of 1 313 407 consumers.