The Idaho Potato Commission has new leadership. Dan Moss became chairman on Sept. 1, and Boyd Foster assumed the role of vice chairman. Both raise spuds for the fresh and processing markets.
Read about innovative farmers in Western Innovators, a new Capital Press ebook available on iPad.
A petition to create another American Viticulture Area in Idaho has been accepted for formal review. An AVA is a specific wine grape growing region designated by the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau.
Read about how farmers are confronting controversy over biotechnology in "Surviving a Biotech Backlash," available at http://bit.ly/BiotechBacklash
The U.S. Potato Board has chosen a veteran in the produce industry to serve as its new president and CEO. The Denver-based board, which serves as the nation's marketing organization and central organizing force, has chosen Blair Richardson.
Read about how farmers are confronting controversy over biotechnology in "Surviving a Biotech Backlash," available at http://bit.ly/BiotechBacklash
The Idaho-Eastern Oregon Onion Festival returns this year after a seven-year absence. It will be held Aug. 3 during the Malheur County Fair and include cooking contests, tasting demonstrations and an onion dressing competition.
Read about how farmers are confronting controversy over biotechnology in "Surviving a Biotech Backlash," available at http://bit.ly/BiotechBacklash
A new Idaho Potato Commission recipe promotion seeks to capitalize on a sharp increase in Americans who report suffering from gluten intolerance.
The Idaho potato industry has prevailed in its efforts to stop a Turkish agricultural company from using the word "Idaho" to promote various agricultural commodities.
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A bill that would exempt free food samples from the state's 6 percent use tax passed the Idaho House 68-0 and has moved to the Senate. The bill would ensure that any producer, farm group or grocery store that offers customers free samples of food doesn't have to pay the tax.
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The U.S. Potato Board has authored a report seeking to explain why fresh potato sales in stores appear to be declining, though health perceptions about spuds are improving and consumers report eating them more often.
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The expiration of the 2008 Farm Bill and the inability of Congress to pass a new one has put at risk U.S. Wheat Associates' foreign trade programs and, conceivably, the future of the international marketing organization.
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More on the U.S. meat industry's successful outreach to Japanese consumers.
From the U.S. Meat Export Federation:
The love affair between Japanese consumers and U.S. pork got a bit cozier recently when Japan’s largest retailer hosted an intensive three-week promotion that resulted in the sale of more than 2.6 million pounds of American pork.
Aeon Group, the largest retailer in Japan that includes the nationwide and major regional supermarkets Aeon Retail, Mycal, Max Valu, Daiei and Inageya, partnered with the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) for three weeks in late March and early April on a spring pork promotion at Aeon’s 1,600 retail outlets. The promotion was developed with support from the Pork Checkoff and USDA Market Access Program (MAP) funds.
To support this multifaceted “Aeon Loves U.S. Pork” program, USMEF-Japan organized a promotional partnership with Nihon Shokken, one of the country’s largest sauce and seasoning manufacturers, to develop a new barbecue sauce to package with U.S. pork back ribs – the newest pork cut to be introduced to Japan.
Understanding that many Japanese consumers are still unfamiliar with the back rib, USMEF prepared for the promotion by conducting a seminar to teach Aeon’s tasting demonstrators how to prepare the ribs and communicate proper cooking methods to consumers. The seminar, funded by the Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council, also provided the demonstrators with information on the nutrition and safety of U.S. pork.
Since most of Tokyo’s nearly 13 million residents rely on the world’s busiest public transportation (nearly 3.2 billion riders per year), Aeon and USMEF developed train advertisements with the “Aeon Loves U.S. Pork” theme to promote the campaign.
For the point of purchase, USMEF developed special “Tasty Rib” tool sets composed of recipe leaflets, a display board and stickers to support both U.S. pork back ribs and spare ribs. Aeon provided its customers with a choice of both uncooked and cooked (ready-to-eat) back ribs.
“Aeon Loves U.S. Pork” is more than a campaign, it’s a relationship,” said Takemichi Yamashoji, USMEF-Japan’s senior marketing director. “We want consumers to experience the quality of U.S. pork and make it part of their regular family menu, and Aeon sees a great business opportunity with U.S. pork.”
For their part, Aeon representatives are thrilled with the promotion. Going into it, they expected to increase U.S. pork sales 5 percent over the previous year. To their delight, sales jumped 48 percent, and Aeon and USMEF already are planning their next joint U.S. pork promotion for July.
“The sales results were much better than we expected,” said Michihisa Murakami, group buyer for Aeon Global. “We appreciate USMEF’s great support. The U.S. pork sales totals during the promotion period were the largest ever. The sale of the new item, the back rib, was successful too.”
The Aeon stores promoted a variety of U.S. pork cuts during the campaign, including pork loin, tender loin, CT butt, belly, jowl meat, spare ribs and back ribs. Pork loins were a major hit for Aeon. Promoted as pork steaks (tonteki), the loins alone accounted for 1.2 million pounds of sales, up 34 percent from last year.
The surprise hit of 2010 continues to be pork back ribs. Aeon sold more than 143,000 pounds of the American barbecue favorite over the three-week span. The ribs were introduced to Japan for the first time toward the end of 2009, and are quickly gaining a loyal following of consumers.
I saw a link on Twitter around April Fool's Day for the website for CyClone Dairy. It has since been revealed that the folks at Ben and Jerry's are behind the phony dairy . Today I found this video and one more on YouTube, so I thought I would share.
This is just one more reason farmers, ranchers and agribusiness folks need to know what's being posted online and ag folks need to cooperate in telling their story using modern tools media tools.
So, with milk prices going down the tubes, does anyone think dairy farmers would be wanted to even explore cloning?
Interesting marketing technique for a company that depends on dairy products to scare consumers.
The folks at New Seasons Market want to give consumers a change to meet the folks that raise their food. They've done a nice little video to promote a lamb-tasting event they've got going on this weekend.
I stumbled upon it this week on YouTube, which was pretty exciting to see something about agriculture right here on the West Coast in an online video. In this case they are promoting the whole "buy local" philosophy.
I've been toying with the idea of highlighting agriculture related videos here on the Blogriculture site. So I thought, as something of a test drive of that idea, I'd share the New Seasons video with Blogriculture visitors. It's interesting to see how those in and around the ag industry are using the Internet.
New Seasons also has some videos on its YouTube channel to introduce people to farmers and ranchers who grow for their markets.
Want a sneak peek at some of the ads that may be showing during the Super Bowl?
AP has some snippets from ads from Budweiser that you may be seeing Super Bowl Sunday. Click here to take a look.
Or maybe this one is more to your liking. It's an ad for a Sunsilk hair product, which features the late, great Marilyn Monroe with modern era pop starts Shakira and Madonna.
There are some other Super Bowl sneak peek videos available too from:
Pepsi;
Carmen Electra in an IceBreakers Ice Cubes spot;
and one about drugs.
When it comes to companies trying to sell a product, it can be tough.
There’s a lot of competition as companies try to figure out the best way to reach their target. They might try radio, television, newspapers, magazines, the internet or direct mail campaigns.
While newspapers depend on advertising to help customers reach their target audience, the question always is how many people are seeing the ad — or better yet — reading the ad and responding to it?
Classifieds are often the most popular, and customers let newspapers know they are pleased with the results they get. But what about the larger ads, especially if it’s the same ad displayed over and over?
According to Ted Haller of The Jordan Group who was a speaker at the Ag Media Summit in Kentucky recently, that is the big question. Is an ad reread? If the same ad is seen in more than one magazine, people probably won’t read it again, he said.
So the question becomes how many ads does a company need to run, in how many publications, to reach the target audience? And how often does that ad need to change so it captures the eye of the consumer? Haller said agencies often tell companies they should have continuity in their ads to get customers, but he stressed a new ad will attract more people to read the ads.
When farmers receive so many publications in their mailboxes these days, it’s even more important to catch their eye to read an ad rather than skip the same ad in several publications over a period of time.
Using one of the workshop attendees as a test target, Haller handed a farm magazine ad to the guy to read. It took 10 seconds to finish the ad. Haller said on average, an ad takes about 15 seconds. So how many ads need to be run in how many magazines before they’re seen?
Haller recommended people buy a media mix: use the different advertising methods out there to try to reach a target audience, and don’t rely on the same ads for extended periods and especially not in one type of media. He provided the positive and negative aspects of all type of media, as well as stressed how pricey it can be, especially using broadcast media to run the ads.
Ultimately, companies don’t want just exposure to customers, they want target customers to react positively to the ads.
As for newspapers who wait to talk to agencies that represent companies and pitch their advertising packages available, Haller was blunt: he said 50 to 75 percent of the media mix is predetermined by the agencies before they even talk to the media representative. The decisions are already made by bias, budget concerns, personal preferences, etc.
For this reason, it’s more important for media companies to be more prepared and have their mix of options ready: show how the target audience will be effectively reached.
With all the competition, perhaps it is even more notable that an Oregon business has earned itself a prestigious award from the American Advertising Federation recently for a direct marketing campaign.
Truitt Bros., Inc., a manufacturer in the shelf-stable foods industry since 1973, received recognition for the work it did with an agency. The agency NOBLE received a Gold ADDY Award for national creative excellence for a promotion it did for Truitt that was simple but effective.
NOBLE created “a unique 3-D mailer introducing customers to Truitt Bros. Pembrook Southern-style Green Beans. The attention-grabbing piece promotes the fresher taste, firmer texture, and brighter color of the product, while incorporating the company’s corporate sustainability message,” said an article on Truitt’s website about the award.
Most fascinating was the simplicity of what NOBLE and Truitt joined up to do: the 3-D mailer was simply a box with two cans inside, connected with a piece of string like kids used to do to create a simple communication tool. The accompanying letter in the mailer encouraged potential buyers to give Truitt a call about their green beans.
The win was remarkable for several reasons: there are 60,000 entries annually in this contest, making it the world’s largest advertising competition; secondly it has several levels of judging, including local, regional and national; thirdly, it is administered by the advertising industry; and fourthly, it’s rare that a foodservice agency and manufacturer would win this award “in a contest dominated by consumer companies and campaigns,” as executive vice-president Tim Blade explained in a press release.
Would the mailer have worked with anyone who saw it? No.
But in this case it accomplished catching the attention of its target audience for probably more than 10 seconds.
Truitt Bros. Inc.
NOBLE
The Jordan Group
Ag Media Summit
Ted Haller
advertising
newspapers
ADDY awards
media
agriculture
oregon
Last month I posted an entry that including a rough draft of an idea for a new logo for the capitalpress.com website. Today I want to post a new version of the logo test.
Our photo coordinator, Mark Rozin, has refined and polished the idea and came up with a new interpretation of the idea.
The newest version
As you can see, its much more sophisticated and cleaner than the first attempt to marry the Capital Press name and farm-and-ranch visuals we feature so prominently and proudly in print and online.
A first attempt
The question is what do you think? Do you think the new version would look good at the top of the capitalpress.com website?
Many states — or organizations within them — have worked hard on branding, and have adopted names and logos to help promote their agricultural products. Usually the logos have a lot in common: the shape of the state, a line about being grown, produced or made in that state, and occasionally something about standards, quality or tradition.
Some states guard these brands fiercely and really restrict where and when they can be used. Other states are more open in how they allow the image to be used.
The battle has always been how widely should the logo be used to promote the reputation of the state’s agricultural products, versus maintaining the integrity of the brand.
The Idaho Potato Commission is one of the organizations that sees the potential in have people promote the brand. The Commission sees the value in using big name celebrities as well as encouraging ordinary people to help promote Idaho potatoes.
For example, at the website tied to the commission, a former actress from the comedy show Gilligan’s Island uses humor to share one of her cooking tips — but also encourages people to share their potato tips in a video contest.
As for ordinary people, the Commission couldn’t resist recently using a press release to play up a family who decided to show their support for Idaho another way: tattoos. Not just ordinary ones: they used the certified logo that is placed on all Idaho potato packaging.
“While stationed in Guam, Technical Sergeant Ben David, who is currently stationed at Hill Air Force Base in Utah, had the famous "Grown in Idaho" Seal tattooed on his right shoulder...complete with the registered trademark...of course!” said the press release.
It went on: “A couple years ago I looked at the “Grown in Idaho” Seal and thought to myself... hey I'm grown in Idaho too,” said David. “I am extremely proud of my Idaho roots and am not afraid to show it! To me the Seal not only means great potatoes, it means a great state, a great way of life and something to be proud of.”
Following his example, two of his three brothers — Matthew and Cory David — also tattooed themselves with the brand on their shoulders.
Rather than become upset or cite trademark infringement, the potato commission decided to take a different approach.
“When I learned of Ben's tattoo, I was actually touched,” the press release quoted Frank Muir, President and CEO, of the Idaho Potato Commission. “Here is a young airman, who is so proud of his American heritage, especially his Idaho roots, he has a permanent tattoo to symbolize this drawn on his shoulder.”
However, the Commission did want to make clear how important an image is — and stressed that competitors especially should be careful not to copy the image onto their products.
“Although Idaho is famous worldwide for its premium potatoes, some consumers don’t realize that only potatoes grown in the Gem State can wear the “Grown in Idaho” Seal. Both words Idaho® Potatoes and the “Grown in Idaho®” Seal are federally registered Certification Marks that certify to consumers that they are purchasing genuine Idaho Potatoes that have been grown in the state of Idaho,” said the Commission.
Technorati tags: Agriculture
And they say politics makes for strange bedfellows. Food marketing makes for some interesting entanglements too.
The Harley-Davidson motorcycle company is joining forces with a large agri-business company, ConAgra Foods, to promote a new product — beef jerky. The companies were scheduled to make the announcement today in Las Vegas at a trade show for the National Association of Convenience Stores.
Associated Press is reporting that Tom Parson, general manager of general merchandise (how's that for a title?) for Harley-Davidson, says this is the first time the iconic motorcycle company has agreed to use its name and log for a food product.
When I think of Harleys I think of a long of things, but food and beef jerky are nowhere near the top of the list. But wouldn't some sort of synergy with a pork product be more appropriate for the motorcycle affectionately known as a hog? Heck, even the Harley-Davidson Owners Group club of devoted Harley owners is known by its H.O.G.acronymm. I'd expect something more along the line of a food partnership with Johnsonville brats or Hormel deli ham or something.
But I guess beef jerky is easier to carry on a bike.
Suddenly I'm craving some dried, smoked meat and a have an urge to play blackjack. Or maybe play one of those slot machines where you have a chance to win a motorcycle. A Harley of course.
Agriculture
Marketing
Harley-Davidson
ConAgra
Food
Motorcycles
