Fenmarc shortlisted for a ‘Grower of the Year’ award

Fenmarc’s commitment to invest in a PR and marketing campaign for its exclusively grown variety Rudolph has been recognised by the Grower of the Year awards. The campaign has been shortlisted for Trade Marketing Campaign of the Year, with the winners announced in London next month.

The aim of the campaign for Fenmarc was to create standout for Rudolph from other potato varieties and position it as a commercially viable, versatile maincrop potato.

In just six months the team developed a brand identity, a website, trade adverts and created some highly visual branding for Fenmarc lorries. They also secured Young Chef of the Year Paul Foster and TV chef Rachel Green as ambassadors for Rudolph who created a series of recipes to demonstrate Rudolph’s versatility.

Rudolph potatoes were delivered directly into the hands of 15 top London chefs and target media, as part of ‘Rudolph Day’ in September. Then in October a potato masterclass was held at the award winning Tuddenham Mill, Suffolk for 10 consumer journalists and bloggers.

The year ended with Rudolph potatoes being featured on the Simon Mayo BBC Radio 2 show with Nigel Barden featuring Rudolph as the ideal Christmas roastie.

Jo Giggs, Marketing Executive for Fenmarc says: “This is the first time we have invested in a fully integrated PR and marketing campaign and we are delighted with its success, particularly as this season it has helped drive significant sales of Rudolph.”

Fenmarc have committed to further promotion of Rudolph during 2012.

For all the latest campaign news please visit www.rudolphpotatoes.com or you can follow Rudolph on twitter @rudolphpotatoes.

• The trade marketing campaign was run by Kathryn Race & David Gough of Ceres, a food PR agency www.ceres-pr.co.uk / @cerespr
• About Fenmarc (www.fenmarc.com) – Fen marc, a leading fresh potato and vegetable grower and supplier was established as a farming co-operative over 40 years ago by growers across East Anglia. The business is now privately owned, with sales in excess of 80 million. Fen marc is established as one of the leading fresh produce suppliers in the UK, employing over 400 colleagues.
• About the seed – Last of the breeding programme in the UK by Agrolon (before Agrico purchased the Agrolon seed business in UK approx 10 years ago). The variety was listed by Agrico in 2007 who own the copyright until 2037. The initial cross was made in the late 90’s from a crossing of Chieftain x Stirling. Stirling was a strong parentage variety with strong resistance to blight, which Rudolph has subsequently inherited. There are currently 14 growers producing circa 1000 tonnes of seed for Agrico UK, both in England and Scotland, from high grade to commercial production. The seed is mainly grown in the region of Angus, Fife, Perthshire & some high grade in Aberdeenshire & Morayshire. There is a small area in Yorkshire where the crop is also being grown, which Agrico UK are hoping to expand year on year. Rudolph has also had promising results with organic trials.