A high-profile Potato Council PR drive will promote the Maris Piper to British consumers, urging mothers to ‘trade-up’ from buying generic whites and purchase specific varieties instead this autumn.

According to a release from the U.K. industry body, the campaign is intended to reach 6.9 million families via print advertisements in key lifestyle magazines aimed at women.

The promotion centers on urging mothers to opt for British favorite Maris Piper alongside other varieties that best suit the particular dish being prepared.

The £370,000 (US$620,000) advertising campaign's objective is to persuade consumers to ditch a generic attitude when buying the British staple vegetable and get more involved with the different varieties on offer, as well as generally reinvigorating the Great British love affair with potatoes.

It comes after the Potato Council published findings of recent research that detailed the latest potato trends in the U.K and how consumers were in a state of inertia when it comes to buying tubers.

Potato Council marketing manager Kate Cox said the advertising campaign has been deliberately timed to coincide with the main crop harvesting in Britain.

"Building shopper awareness around the importance of using named varieties for more consistent results will not only improve their dining experience, but will deliver a real boost to the sector," she said in a release.

"We have already made strong in-roads in our efforts to encourage mums to trade-up; when we ran a similar campaign last year, we reached a combined total of nine million mums through print and online platforms and the overall campaign resulted in an average 5% point uplift in mums agreeing that Maris Piper are worth 'paying a bit more for'.

"This was even higher within the younger and older families’ groups, showing the campaign really resonated well with our target audience."

Cox adds that a further benefit of the campaign is to reinforce the Potato Council’s signposting initiative which groups varieties with specific labels (smooth, fluffy and salad) to help consumers choose the right one for a dish or certain recipe.

The print adverts in magazines including Hello, Heat and Closer will be complemented with an online campaign and are hoped to drive sales.

Photo: Potato.org.uk

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