Colorado Potatoes ramps up millennial video marketing campaign

by Kathleen Thomas Gaspar | December 20, 2016

Building on the success of its earlier 2016 video that featured a “fast hands” presentation of Colorado Waffle Iron Potatoes, the marketing arm of the Colorado Potato Administrative Committee is releasing video instructions for Potato Noodles, what Assistant Director Linda Weyers and Marketing Administrative Assistant Savannah Schlaufman described as “a new way to eat potatoes.”

Potato Noodles will be featured in a Colorado Potatoes video campaign running on social media for the next three months. Chef Jason Morse from 5280 Culinary in Denver provides a detailed step-by-step version of the recipe. Photo courtesy of Colorado Potatoes.

Though the video has appeal to all ages/demographics, Weyers and Schlaufman said the target of this three-month campaign, which launched in early December, is the expanding buying power of Millennials —individuals born between the late 1970s and the mid-1990s

Produced through a partnership with ABC Channel 7 in Denver, the campaign features a two video format. One is a “fast hands” recipe version for social media, with ABC handling placement. It will be used as a pre-roll ad leading into videos, Schlaufman said, and Internet distribution will focus on Southeastern U.S. markets.

The second video is a longer format and features Chef Jason Morse, owner of 5280 Culinary in Denver. Morse, who has worked with CPAC for a number of years in developing recipes for Colorado potatoes, launched the chef services/culinary accouterments business in 2010.

In his video version of Potato Noodles, Chef Jason demonstrates a spiralizer on potatoes, rendering the spud into a pile of “noodles” quickly. The gluten-free noodle substitute can be used in a variety of dishes and lends itself to virtually every pasta sauce, including Colorado-favored red and green chili and millennial-favored ramen.

“The video will have a general message on how to eat potatoes, with this as a suggestion,” Schlaufman said. “Our aim was to let people use their own creativity, and our idea was to put it out on social media and let people click through to our website, coloradopotato.org.”

She said Scripps is handling distribution of the longer video.

“We’re hoping millennials pick up on it,” Weyers said, noting the production is going into areas where Colorado Potatoes has a strong market share.

“Our first video for Waffle Iron Potatoes was really well-received,” Schlaufman said.

In addition to the three-month video blitz, Colorado Potatoes is also taking part in the Produce For Kids campaign, “We Love RDs,” referring to registered dietitians. The program delivers “toolkits” to in-store RDs and nutritionists, providing items such as produce scrubbers and p.o.s. for specific products. In March and April Colorado Potatoes will be sending gift certificates and activity books for National Nutrition Month, Schlaufman said.