Chip Week a highly successful UK campaign

The 21st annual Chip Week has been hailed a success! A review of the 2012 campaign, run by Potato Council, reveals the Week encouraged enough media interest to reach every adult in Great Britain more than 2.5 times, providing opportunities for increased sales and driving up awareness that chips can be eaten as part of a balanced diet.

The media evaluation reported that Chip Week generated almost 600 news or feature items across the mix of channels – national and regional press, consumer magazines, TV and radio and online. The value of coverage reached in excess of £3.4million, which in real terms is a return of £23 for each £1 invested.

Chip Week campaign manager, Kate Cox, said: “This is fantastic news and shows that Chip Week is a hard-working campaign that delivers a really positive impact. There were over 169 million opportunities to see our messages, which encouraged consumers to celebrate Chip Week and the nation’s love for a traditional and favourite food.”

Broadcast coverage saw a considerable increase on last year’s campaign, with over 70 items including BBC Radio 1 and 2, BBC 2 Something for the Weekend and the ITV shows This Morning and Lorraine – and which would have cost £175,000 in advertising spend.

Over 600 shops and pubs/restaurants took part in the Week, helping to generate over 35,000 nominations from customers in the Choice Chip Awards. Not only did this recognise quality chips throughout the country, it helped drive customer loyalty, awareness and above all, a sales platform for the chip industry and supply chain, which was bolstered by a ‘free chips’ promotion, in partnership with The Sun.

But Chip Week isn’t just focused on the fish and chip shop trade;it promotes chips in all their forms, giving processors, suppliers and retailers the opportunity to get involved and boost sales. This was clearly evident with Chip Week promotional initiatives run by Tesco, Ocado, Asda, Aldi, Giraffe and Breville.

Social media is also a big influencer and the campaign was visible to 1.7million Twitter users, who followed Chip Week discussions across 2,400 posts. Online news items ran on high profile websites sites such as www.which.co.uk, www.dailymail.co.uk, www.glamour.co.uk and www.digitalspy.co.uk, while retro recipes, chip facts and competitions drove more than 33,500 visits to www.chips.lovepotatoes.co.uk.

Kate said: “The results clearly demonstrate why Chip Week continues to be an important campaign for the entire supply chain – boosting awareness and sales. Industry support adds real weight to its overall success and we are keen to continue the momentum and build on the partnerships established this year.

“Of course, we’re always interested in feedback on our campaigns to ensure they continue to perform each year. Post-Week questionnaires issued to chip shops are being analysed so we can start preparations for Chip Week 2013. We would also like to appeal to any potato merchants who would like to get involved in next year’s campaign, after all Chip Week is a great way of generating sales for the industry.”

To discuss opportunities for next year’s Chip Week please contact Kate Cox on +44 24 7647 8776 or email kate.cox@potato.ahdb.org.uk.