In one month, one banner on one over-the-road shipping trailer has brought nice attention the Colorado potatoes.
The banner, placed on a semi-trailer in mid-March, is a “different kind of promotion” for the Colorado Potato Administrative Committee.
Linda Weyers, the assistant director of the administrative committee, which is based in Monte Vista, Colo., said she has received supportive and interested emails from consumers in key marketing areas in the southeastern United States.
Three more banners “are in the works” and should be placed on three more trailers by July.
Weyers said the start-up logistics are somewhat complicated, given the need to have the right trailer available when the banner is available to be placed.
The banner covers the front one-third of both sides of the trailer.
The graphic carries an attractive potato photo and shows the committee’s website, as well as logos and the expression “Explore the San Luis Valley Difference.”
Weyers said one truck broker, who ships many Colorado potatoes, initially agreed to provide the first trailer. Now other brokers are asking to participate in the program.
Weyers wouldn’t cite the cost of the banner but noted, “we feel the payback is worth it! It’s something different to get our name out there.”
Weyers said the 2018 Colorado storage crop shipping will be completed about mid-July. “We say we’re year round, but we’re pretty limited by July,” Weyers noted.
The potato committee’s fiscal year ends Aug. 31. Harvesting of the new crop begins in mid-September.
On April 17, she said seed potato planting was to begin “in a week or two. It’s still freezing at night here, now.”
“Movement has been good, and the price has been steady through the whole season,” she noted.