Online "Peel back the Truth" campaign attracts consumers to potatotes

Farm and Ranch Report July 28, 2010 The U. S. Potato Board’s “Peel back the Truth” campaign went online earlier this year. It was integrated with advertising programs on AllRecipes.com and MyRecipes.com, the two most highly-trafficked recipe sites on the web.

Kathleen Triou, USPB Vice President of Domestic Marketing, says these programs build on the overall “Peel Back the Truth” campaign debunking the myth potato dishes take a long time to prepare.

Triou: “It begins with where consumers are going to get their inspiration or their creativity for what they are going to cook for dinner tonight. Potatoes are generally kept in people’s pantries but could be easily overlooked in light of other things that might be potentially quicker to cook.”

All the recipes showcased in this initiative can be prepared in 30 minutes or less.

Triou: “Which is generally what the average American is saying is an acceptable period of time to create dinner.”

And consumers certainly took to the Quick and Healthy Potato recipes.

Triou: “In the test period alone, we had about 24-thousand recipes viewed and a little over three-thousand recipes downloaded and printed from consumers off of these two sites. And those are some pretty sizeable figures for such a short period of time.”

Triou says it stands to reason that recipe downloading/printing could lead to increased demand and thus, retail sales for potatoes.

That’s the U.S. Potato Update. Brought to you by the United States Potato Board, maximizing return on grower investment. I’m Bob Hoff for Northwest Aginfo Net.