Robbie Davis CEO, Potatoes South Australia Incorporated, the peak body for the potato industry value chain, will visit Western Australia this Friday to see first-hand the successful 'serve up some goodness' marketing campaign. The visit will see Ms Davis meet with industry stakeholders and witness the culmination of ‘Potato Week’ activities including live radio broadcasts and in-store point of sale. She will also view television and outdoor advertising sites.
Ms Davis is taking the chance to see personally the success of a campaign which delivered a 5 per cent volume sales increase to Western Australian potato producers last year. Government audited figures show that Western Australian producers made more money per tonne than the previous year - even after all marketing costs had been taken out. The campaign commenced on 1 October 2013.
“Potatoes are the largest contributor to horticulture and the sector is worth more than $0.5 billion to our national economy”, said Ms Davis. “However, consumption of fresh potatoes continues to decline and market share has been lost to pasta, rice and other carbohydrates. This trend can only be reversed through consumer education and the potato must be re-positioned as a sophisticated, highly nutritious ‘must-have power food’. Currently, the industry on the whole, is failing to address the consumer’s need for information.”
“There is little point in providing market research data on consumer behaviour to the industry alone. A targeted marketing campaign to build consumer awareness of just how good potatoes are from a nutritional and culinary perspective is required”, she added.
Encouraged by the vast majority of national potato producers, Potatoes South Australia is planning to head a drive for a national collaborative marketing campaign to deliver these same benefits to the potato industry across the country. South Australia is the country’s largest producer and grows eighty per cent of the nation’s fresh washed potatoes.
Ms Davis will also meet with the Board of the Potato Marketing Corporation (PMC) and CEO Mr Peter Evans, and with Mr Jim Turley, EO Potato Growers Association (PGA) while in Western Australia.
For more information contact:
Robbie Davis
0061 427 084 319