Dana Rady credits the Wisconsin potato industry leadership for a long list of recent marketing advances.  

Rady, the director of promotion, communication and consumer education for the Wisconsin Potato & Vegetable Growers Association, based in Antigo, WI, recently reviewed this marketing program with The Produce News.

The promotions involve a “Celebrate Agriculture” tie-in effort with the University of Wisconsin and a produce traceability and food-safety education effort with grower-packers. Standing with promotional materials in the office of the Wisconsin Potato & Vegetable Growers Association, in Antigo, WI, is Dana Rady, director of promotion, communication and consumer education.The WPVGA is also laying groundwork for an elaborate public education thrust.

In 2014, WPVGA will continue the “Celebrate Agriculture” promotion that was launched at the beginning of the 2013 football season of the University of Wisconsin. WPVGA and seven other in-state agricultural groups sponsored the activity, in cooperation with Badger Sports Properties. Badger Properties is owned by Learfield Sports, and has the exclusive right to run promotions for the University of Wisconsin.

The cornerstone of the 2013 “Celebrate Agriculture” was the season opening football game for the Wisconsin Badgers vs. the University of Massachusetts.

Before 76,000 fans, the Badgers thumped the Minutemen 45-0, and the day was also a winner for Wisconsin’s agriculture sponsors.

Sponsors’ logos were displayed throughout the stadium. The promotion also included Wisconsin potato industry participation in a pre-game hospitality event. Sponsors were recognized on-field before the kickoff and Badger fans were exposed to WPVGA and its ag allies’ “Celebrate Agriculture” message on the scoreboard and throughout the game experience.

Radio broadcasts also carried interviews with sponsors and carried the message regarding the celebration of Wisconsin agriculture. The game also involved public address announcements and posters. Rady said the total impressions for the game were about 10 million.

There will be 10 Celebrate Agriculture sponsors this fall, with the opening game slated for Labor Day weekend.

“The objective was to let people know that Wisconsin grows potatoes and a lot of people don’t know the nutritional benefits of potatoes,” Rady said. Wisconsin potatoes gained in both regards. Wisconsin has a “buy local” effort — which was served by the promotion — but she emphasized that many people from outside the state also received the “Celebrate Agriculture” message.

Beyond this promotion, “We have really come a long way” in developing the Wisconsin potato industry in the last year, Rady said.

WPVGA’s Produce Traceability Initiative and food-safety push was launched in January 2013.   RedLine Solutions, Inc., of Santa Clara, CA, was hired by the WPVGA to educate its membership about the PTI workings.

In early January, Rady said, the requirements that the growers need to participate in PTI are 95 percent complete. The growers have integrated the system into their computers and some growers are printing PTI labels. The labels are required for sales to Walmart. “Not all of our growers sell to Walmart,” Rady noted.

WPVGA is administering for its membership the cloud-based virtual private network that is tied into specific global labeling standards as they relate to PTI. Grower-shippers can acquire needed labels through the VPN to label their specific products, such as five-pound bags of red potatoes.

“PTI is another example of the leadership of Wisconsin growers to show they are prepared” for future demands from their customers.

“Potatoes are a low risk commodity” in the food-safety realm “yet, it’s nice to see the growers be leaders,” Rady noted.

Food-safety training is ongoing and Rady said that by 2015 all Wisconsin potato growers will have food-safety audits on file.

After a long discussion of the concept, Wisconsin’s potato industry is making real strides to purchase a “Spud Mobile,” which will be employed for a wide variety of promotions.

The targeted market for the Spud Mobile would “not only be moms and dads, but kids,” Rady said.

“We are closer to completion of the idea. We have been discussing it for a couple of years and now we’re moving forward,” he said.

The Spud Mobile would be a moving education display for consumers to walk through. The bus would participate in retail store promotions; appear for restaurant happenings and at tailgating events. Individual growers could use the Spud Mobile for their own marketing events.

The Spud Mobile would play an important role in school events to teach school children about potato nutrition.

The WPVGA is also creating a school education program for Wisconsin children to learn about growing potatoes and the health benefits of potatoes.

Beyond this work, WPVGA is involved in a variety of agriculture and trade show promotions.

WPVGA “has a major presence” in Wisconsin’s “Farm Tech Days.” WPVGA will also be exhibiting in June at the United Fresh Convention in Chicago and at the Produce Marketing Association’s Foodservice Conference this July. Wisconsin potato growers will be well-represented in their booth at the PMA Fresh Summit in Anaheim, CA, this October, Rady said.