More than a bit on the side – Lorcan Bourke

Lorcan Bourke of Bord Bia shares some positive results from a recent marketing campaign aimed at repositioning the traditional spud for modern consumers

Irish people are famed for their reputed love of spuds, so one would think that getting Irish people to eat potatoes is a relatively easy task. But, Ireland is a much-changed place in the past few decades. In particular, the situation where potatoes, which were the only main meal carbohydrate available back then, are now viewed as just another carb option on the plate. Irish people tell us they still love their spuds and they continue to be Ireland’s most popular vegetable and household purchasing penetration reflects this, in that 99% of Irish homes buy potatoes. The real trend is that potatoes have not been eaten as often with Irish households not purchasing them as frequently. In 2012 the retail sales of potatoes in Ireland recorded their lowest volume according to Kantar World Panel research. This has had obvious consequences for Irish potato growers and packers.

The challenge potatoes have had to face up to, has been fitting them in seamlessly in busy modern lifestyles with increasingly fractured meal occasions. The reduced frequency of formal family dining/meal occasions in homes is a trend running countercurrent to their traditional preparation and use. In Ireland, traditionally we boil, bake, roast and chip potatoes, so the big challenge has been to flag their natural health benefits while showing people how to use them as a low-fat food ingredient in a myriad of convenient international recipe dishes. Bord Bia research over the years has established that people have large gaps in their knowledge around potatoes, whether it’s their positive nutritional value or their simple most basic preparation or their knowledge of their versatility of use in international recipe dishes. An ‘anti-carb’ movement and various dieting fad’ left potatoes health credentials undefended, in the past decades, which needed to be corrected.

Such was this challenge that in 2014, the Irish and British potato industries got together to seek funding towards a promotional campaign for potatoes from the EU. The campaign was called ‘Potatoes: More Than a Bit on the Side’ as this was where Bord Bia wanted to position potatoes in the publics minds. They deserved to be given a centre plate focus and attention.

The joint campaign saw the launch of the cool looking potato character Bud the Spud (as the voice of potatoes) and the launch of a dedicated international recipe website www.potato.ie. Across the three years of the EU funded campaign, this website has become the bank for 142 healthy and international potato recipes and 32 How to cook videos.

We know when people visit this website, they are thrilled with the new recipes they find there. In the campaign monitoring survey polls, 60-65% of respondents who had recently visited www.potato.ie said they would likely do so again with 65% of people saying they would try a new recipe for potatoes from it.

The campaign was fully integrated focusing on out of home poster ads (via rail and bus transport), press advertising, digital advertising, PR events/coverage and a huge focus on social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram). All focus of the campaign was to change attitudes of our target audience (22-44-year-old females) to potatoes, assuring them of their fat-free and gluten-free status, while directing them to www.potato.ie to find exciting and tasty recipes. All the campaign evaluations to date have

“In 2012 the retail sales of potatoes in Ireland recorded their lowest”

been very positive with the key measure of the retail sale of potatoes showing year on year volume increases over the course of the campaign and now standing at 210,000 tons.

Campaign ambassador’s dietician Aoife Hearne and chef/restaurant owner Pádraic Óg Gallagher were appointed potato ambassadors to give reassurances on the healthy status and versatile/tasty virtues of potatoes. Whilst to amplify the impact of the broader campaign, Bord Bia ran supplementary potato promotions around St. Patricks Day, Bloom, the launch of the new season Queens and National Potato Day each year. ✽

LORCAN BOURKE of Bord Bia. For more details visit www.bordbia.ie

NATIONAL POTATO DAY 2018 Bord Bia’s annual National Potato Day was held on Friday 5 October. The celebration honours Ireland’s most loved crop and encourages consumers to recognise its nutritional value while experimenting with new and exciting recipes from our dedicated potato recipe website www.potato.ie. This year Bord Bia asked people to imagine a world without potatoes, tying in with a global campaign theme (originated by and tying in with the International Potato Centre in Peru), which highlights the importance and value of the world’s third most important food crop to the human diet (after rice and wheat). On the day, a range of events, talks and promotional activity took place around the country to celebrate Ireland’s most popular vegetable. Two short slots on Virgin 3 TV were secured featuring dietitian Aoife Hearne and chef Pádraic Óg Gallagher. The events supported by Bord Bia included the Teagasc/ Carlow Chamber of Commerce’s first ever ‘Carlow Rooster Festival’ held in Oak Park Carlow, ‘Féile an Phráta’ at the Dingle Food Festival, and Keogh’s/Country Crest ‘Spud Fest’ in Newbridge House, Co Dublin, while the IFA potato growers hosted local/regional events for schools. Also, the Irish Independent carried a special 12-page potato supplement, while promotional activity included TV, print and online promotional activity. Bord Bia bought a four-page advertorial in Easy Food magazine while also running a children’s colouring competition with Agri Aware via Incredible Edible linkage to national schools. ✽