Potato Council launches One Voice campaign
The Potato Council has launched the “One Voice” campaign with the aim of encouraging consumption and improving the profitability of the sector.
Caroline Evans, the Potato Council’s head of marketing and corporate affairs, is aiming to get the message to shoppers, children, policymakers and the media to ensure potatoes remain a staple on the British plate.
“We are looking for growers to get involved. This can be as simple as putting a car sticker in the back of the car, passing on a recipe, right up to becoming a potato ambassador,” she explained at the British Potato 2013 conference.
Potato ambassador Robin Cropper, who farms in Lancashire, said he had reaped the rewards from becoming an ambassador and urged others to get involved.
“As a farmer we are normally worried about yields but the customers are equally as important so ensuring there is demand and promoting the product we work so hard for is critical,” he said.
“It’s amazing the response you get from the public, people are keen to know more and get involved with potatoes one way or another,” he added.
“We are looking for growers to get involved. This can be as simple as putting a car sticker in the back of the car, passing on a recipe, right up to becoming a potato ambassador.”
Caroline Evans, Potato Council head of marketing and corporate affairs
The ambassador role is a two-year appointment, which can be extended. The Potato Council is looking for more growers to sign up and join the team in May 2014.
Part of the role will involve delivering a set of simple messages to promote natural goodness of potatoes. These have received support from a number of partner organisations, including the NFU, NFU Scotland, Fresh Potato Suppliers’ Association and Potato Processors’ Association.
Richard Harris, director general of the Potato Processors’ Association, is fully behind the campaign.
“It is key we work together as a total industry and promote the great asset we have in the potato – healthy, tasty, versatile and sustainable,” he said.
Ms Evans said she expects to be pushing the campaign forward for a number of years.
“We are committed to this for a good few years. It will probably take a bit of time to get the messages across,” she said.
Simple support for campaigns and programmes can reap major rewards for the long term according to Ms Evans – demonstrated in the success of projects such as Grow Your Own Potatoes.
Now in its tenth anniversary the project has reached more than 2.1 million children with three quarters of all primary schools in the UK now signed up to take part each year.
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