Potato lip balm
Besides being just plain fun, the Idaho Potato Commission’s gimmicky stunts have a purpose: to make Idaho and potatoes synonymous in people’s minds.
“We’re trying to get it so everybody in the world, when they think of potatoes, the first thing they think of is Idaho,” said IPC President and CEO Jamey Higham.
That’s already pretty much the case, but the IPC, which represents the state’s spud industry, wants to ensure it stays that way.
The commission’s latest gimmick was Kiss of French, a potato-flavored lip balm released just in time for Valentine’s Day this year.
The lip balm, which sold out in two days, was made with real Idaho potatoes in the formula.
Higham said the lip balm “was just one of these promotions we do to coincide with Valentine’s Day to try to get people to be more aware of Idaho potatoes.”
He said it’s also a way to reach a different group of people about the Idaho potato brand than would be typically reached through the commission’s normal TV commercials and other promotions.
“This way, we reach a little different group of people that are not necessarily in the grocery store or watching TV, where they see our commercials,” Higham said. “It’s just one more way to get name recognition out there in an inexpensive way.”
In 2022, the IPC released a limited supply of potato-themed fragrance in conjunction with Valentine’s Day. The perfume – Frites by Idaho – was made from distilled Idaho potatoes and essential oils.
The potato commission won’t see its numbers for the lip balm promotion for a while, but the perfume registered about a billion impressions, Higham said.
“To pay for that type of exposure would be insanely expensive and we get it for not very much,” he said.
It’s difficult to measure how well these promotions are working, but anecdotally, they appear to be paying off, he adds.
“There’s no real black-and-white measurement except that we know for us and farmers, whenever you go anywhere and people hear you’re from Idaho, the response is always, ‘potatoes,’” Higham said.
The IPC was created in 1937 to make people aware of “the great potatoes that grow in Idaho and it’s working,” he adds.
The potato commission is funded 100 percent by the industry itself and receives no taxpayer funds.
In 2023, the commission teamed up with the Van Leeuwen ice cream company to produce a limited edition product that paired malted milkshake flavored ice cream with French fry bites.
The lip balm, perfume and potato-themed ice cream all sold out quickly.
Higham knows these promotions are gimmicks but they are also fun, inexpensive ways to keep the Idaho potato connection going.
“It’s a gimmick, it really is,” he said. “But it’s how you get people’s attention. It’s a way to get the Idaho potato name out there without spending a lot of money.”
It probably doesn’t matter whether people are actually using them or buying them more as souvenirs, Higham said.
“I think people know that it’s not a serious, serious product,” he said. “They probably are buying them because they’re cool. It’s different.”
So, what’s up for next year?
“We don’t have one in the chamber yet for next year, but we’ll come up with something,” Higham said.
