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| HEADLINES (Click on headline for full story): | August 7, 2007 |
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S.C. JOHNSON & SON, INC., AND THE US POTATO BOARD TEAM UP FOR SALES S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc., (SCJ) a leading consumer goods company with sales in excess of $6.5 billion and household brands that include Ziploc® and Saran™ plastic wrap, to name a few, is launching a new product, Zip’n Steam™ Microwave Steam Cooking Bags. The product allows today’s time crunched consumer to make quick, great tasting, healthy meals at home. And while a whole range of products can be steamed in the innovative and patented steam vented bag—potatoes are particularly great—that’s when SCJ gave the United States Potato Board (USPB) a call.
The in-store demos will be taking place nearly every day throughout the month of August, through mid-September. The demos will be nationwide within the following chains: Wal-Mart, A&P, Albertson’s, Big Kmart, Carr’s, Cub Foods, Dominick’s Finer Foods, Food Lion, Fred Meyer, Fry’s Food & Drug, Gennardi’s, Giant Eagle, HEB, Jewel-Osco, Kmart, Kroger, Meijer, Pak-n-Save, Publix, Randall’s, Safeway, Shop Rite, Stop & Shop, Super Fresh, Super Kmart Center, Vons, and Waldbaum’s. In many cases not all of a chain’s stores are involved – but in all cases – a representative number of their stores are participating. To learn more about Ziploc® Brand Zip’n Steam™ Microwave Steam Cooking Bags, visit www.uspotatoes.com or www.healthypotato.com, where you can also find all the recipes for “quick, great tasting, healthy meals at home”. USPB-Ziploc Demo Recipe Card.pdf NEW RECIPES, NEW CONVENIENT OPPORTUNITIES As exciting as the launch of the Zip 'n Steam™ Microwave Steam Cooking Bags is, through our new products team at Turover-Straus, the USPB has also developed 21 “quick n’ easy” potato dishes, from a side dish to a complete meal. Professional photography has now been completed, recipes rewritten to be “kitchen friendly”, and the recipes are being posted on www.uspotatoes.com as they are completed. Most are designed for the microwave and can be prepped and served in under 20 minutes. All recipes are also posted on our consumer web site, www.healthypotato.com. Getting fresh potatoes back on the dinner table requires we fit the consumer time table, and these are great tasting, quick to prepare dishes for the entire family – even if the family is just one! FRESH DEMAND WORKING GROUP MOVES FORWARD WITH “NEW GENERATION” OF POTATO NUTRITION MESSAGING Recently, the Fresh Demand Working Group (FDWG) met with the USPB’s new nutrition messaging creative partners at Sterling Brands to review results of the latest round of consumer focus group testing of the five nutrition messaging “themes” presented during the May meeting. From this consumer testing, the agency developed seven creative ideas, which the group has now narrowed to four. These four creative ideas, with minor refinements suggested by the FDWG, will undergo another round of consumer focus group testing. Results from that work will be reviewed by the FDWG in early October and discussions held on how the industry will take this new nutrition messaging forward. The FDWG, representing fresh shippers and state and national industry
organizations, continues to aggressively move forward to address the
continuing decline in consumption of fresh potatoes. This industry
working group is demonstrating the progress that can be made when the
entire fresh segment of the US potato industry comes together for a
singular purpose---to build long-term consumer demand for fresh potatoes. TRADITIONAL DINNER MEALS FAVOR POTATOES Over the past four to five years, National Eating Trends (NET) data reveals slightly more dinner meals were eaten in-home. Consumers are eating more traditional dinner meals and potatoes share of one-dish, quick and easy meals are holding steady. While the number of total side dishes served with dinners has declined significantly, potatoes are still eaten four times as often with traditional dinner meals compared to one dish, quick and easy dinner meals. Since 2003, dinner meals prepared and eaten at home have risen slightly, and potatoes’ share has held steady at around 21 percent. In 2006, 62 percent of in-home dinners were one-dish, quick and easy meals and 38 percent were traditional. Potatoes are consumed in 39 percent of traditional dinners and 10 percent of one-dish, quick and easy meals. 2ND QUARTER NIELSEN DATA NOW AVAILABLE The attached Excel file contains the 2nd Quarter 2007 Nielsen Supermarket
for One interesting note, while still a small part of the total bags, 4 pounds and less pack sizes continue to grow in both dollar and pound share, representing 13.1% dollar share of bags, and 4.2% pound share in Q2. This could be a trade down from larger bags, a trade up from loose due to increased smaller bag offerings, or a reflection of smaller households. For more information, contact USPB Vice President of Domestic Marketing, Mac Johnson, macjohnson@uspotatoes.com. Frozen Foodservice, and Supermarket Chip, Dehy, Frozen and Refrigerated will be available within two-three weeks. YTD Q2 2007 Fresh Bagged Nielsen Report.xls USPB SCHOOL WELLNESS GRANT PROGRAM OFF TO SUCCESSFUL START The USPB recently announced the availability of $2,500 Wellness Grants for school nutrition programs during the School Nutrition Association (SNA) and National PTA Conventions. Expressed interest was outstanding and approximately 400 grant applications are now out. The deadline for submitting the grant applications is April 2008. Growers are invited to take the applications to their schools, however an SNA member or the grant writer has to prepare and sponsor it. For more information, visit www.healthypotato.com, or contact USPB Vice President, Public Relations, Linda McCashion at lindam@uspotatoes.com or 303-369-7783. “SUMMER OF FRESH POTATOES” PRESS KIT CAMPAIGN SIGNIFICANTLY SURPASSES GOALS! With some major online “hits”, such as the Chicago Sun-Times and Fidelity Investments' web site (of all places!), the USPB’s “Summer of Fresh Potatoes” campaign to the food and consumer press has already reached over 12 million impressions, surpassing the 5 million impressions goal by 7 million impressions—nearly triple!! With the stated goal of creating a year-round presence for healthy and convenient potatoes on the food pages, USPB public relations staff and its agency partners continue to “Maximize Return on Grower Investment” by delivering the positive potato message. To see the complete list of publications and circulation reached by this program, simply follow this link: |
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©2007 United States Potato Board |
As part of the national product launch, SCJ is
demonstrating the product in over 5,000 supermarkets and supercenters
across the country, and the perfect product to demo—potatoes!! That’s
where the USPB comes in. The USPB Retail Marketing group, working
with the SCJ marketing and promotional team over the past eight months,
developed a plan to provide the potatoes and over 1,000,000 potato
nutritional and recipe flyers to be handed out during the demos.