Until the wheels fall off
The big truck is going to keep on rolling down the highway and Idaho potato grower Mark Coombs, with his red bloodhound sidekick, will continue his quest to find the lost truck.
That was just one of the messages Frank Muir, Idaho Potato Commission (IPC) president, gave during his annual report at the Idaho Grower Shippers Association (IGSA) meeting in Sun Valley on Thursday, Sept. 1.
Muir said that the big Idaho potato truck had recently completed a publicity stunt in New York City floating down the Hudson River on a barge.
“We were covered by all the TV stations, radio stations, even 13,000 taxis were broadcasting what we were doing with the big Idaho potato truck,” he said. “Even the NYPD put an all-points bulletin out to look for the big Idaho potato.”
Muir said the truck would accompany the national Christmas tree, chosen from Idaho, on its trip to the nation’s capital this November and December.
“It’s just another way in which we leverage programs that are tied to Idaho but also tied to the nation as a whole,” he said.
Muir said that at each local appearance of the truck signatures are collected on a card with the IPC donating $1 for each signature, up to $500, to a local charity.
Muir said that polling data indicates that consumers approve of Idaho potato growers giving back to local communities.
“Idaho represents a very family oriented brand and the fact that a family oriented brand does good things for families is a good thing,” Muir said.
This is the fifth year the truck has traveled across the country and Muir said he sees no end to the truck’s role as a mobile ambassador for Idaho’s most famous vegetable.
“We’re going to keep this program running until the wheels fall off,” he said in this video.
Muir said that IPC will continue to sponsor the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl football game. The game is played at Boise State University’s Albertsons Stadium and is televised on ESPN.
Muir said that the IPC is expanding its involvement in RODS (Racing for Orphans with Down Syndrome). He said that the IPC works with 200 elite runners that race for awareness and raising funds to help orphans in other countries be adopted by families here in America.
He said that the IPC is developing a public service announcement to increase and promote RODS visibility.
Another message Muir gave the audience was the importance of a premium brand and not to discount the Idaho brand.
“One of the things we’ve learned is that when we do pricing studies, universally, Idaho is priced higher than local potatoes,” he said. “We expect that. We want that. Retailers and consumers expect Idaho to be a premium priced product. But we also expect that product to be quality. That’s our imagery and so we as a commission will do everything we can to help communicate to growers or shippers ongoing ways to insure that Idaho potatoes will always be the highest quality that can be provided.”
Bill is managing editor of Spudman. Email him at [email protected].
