TAKING NORTH AMERICA’S LARGEST POTATO INDUSTY CONFERENCE TO HISTORIC LEVELS
“Potato Expo 2023 brought together people from the seemingly disparate worlds of Bayer Crop Science, John Deere, Fox Packaging, McCain Foods, Syngenta and the Food Network with enthusiastic ease. The unifying factor: a love of potatoes, of course.”
Brief
The annual Potato Expo serves as a forum to foster collaboration between national and state potato associations, as well as the rest of the industry. The Potato Expo is organized and hosted by the National Potato Council (NPC), an Evocati PR client, and has been North America’s largest potato industry conference and trade show for 15 years. Evocati PR’s contributions to the Potato Expo led to its most successful performance since the pandemic to include in-studio and on-site news segments, record attendance, and the first-ever Celebrity Chef Competition featuring Food Network personalities. Our work increased public knowledge and acceptance of American growers and potatoes as key economic contributors to national and international markets.
Challenge
The annual Potato Expo had experienced a decline in attendance between 2020 - 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is the primary revenue generating opportunity for NPC who advocates for the economic well-being of U.S. potato growers on federal legislative, regulatory, environmental, and trade issues. NPC sought Evocati PR’s support to increase attendance and earned media through its PR, advertising, and partner engagement services.
Strategy
Evocati PR focused on two areas of opportunities: on-site staff support during the Potato Expo and media placement. The entire team worked at the Potato Expo in support of our client with responsibilities that included media coordination and pitching, VIP handling and management, client social media marketing and amplification, booth staffing, podcast guest scheduling and coordination, and other duties as assigned. We began media pitching more than a month before the Potato Expo to drive early awareness which yielded an in-studio and on-site local news segments. Finally, we organized the Celebrity Cook-Off competition including booking personalities, social media content, script development, and a run-of-show as well as multiple LIVE podcast episode recordings during the event.
Results
The 2023 Potato Expo broke previous attendance records for an event hosted outside of Las Vegas, with 1,816 registered attendees and 175 exhibitors covering more than 90,000 square feet.
For the first time on the Expo stage, attendees were treated to a potato-themed cook-off, “This Spud’s for You – Celebrity Chef Edition,” hosted by Ted Allen, the Emmy Award-winning host of Chopped and Chopped Junior. Two Colorado potato industry chefs (Jason Morse, CEC, owner and executive chef of 5280 Culinary in Littleton, Colo., and RJ Harvey, RDN, CEC, the Culinary Director of Potatoes USA) paired up with Food Network personalities Duff Goldman and Simon Majumdar for a competition around creating dishes that put potatoes at the center of the plate.
Earned media included an in-studio feature on FOX 31 Morning News Denver; A two-part, on-site Potato Expo feature on FOX 31 Great Day Colorado with host Cheryl Hwang; and a published feature by The Packer.
Results Highlights
Historic Attendance
Celebrity Chef Competition Featuring Food Network Personalities
LIVE In-Studio and On-site Local News Features
Garnered 280 Million Impressions Across Social and Earned Media in Six Weeks