Look Sharp: Enter for a Chance to Win Your Cut of $150,000 in Cash & Prizes from the Idaho Potato Commission Retail Display Contest

Free Cuisinart professional-quality cutlery set for all in-store display entrants in 24th annual competition

EAGLE, ID, November 21, 2014 – The Idaho Potato Commission's (IPC) annual Potato Lover’s Month Retail Display Contest just got even bigger and better: For the first time ever, the competition period has been extended from four weeks to eight weeks so that retailers have more opportunities to tap into the sales-boosting spud merchandising event.

“Potato Lover’s Month falls during February, but we’ve expanded the retail display time frame from mid-January to mid-March to ensure that everyone will be able to receive their Idaho® potato orders during the contest period,” says IPC marketing manager Jamie Bowen. “The contest has continued to explode in popularity, with up to 5,000 retailers entering every year, and that has resulted in tremendous demand for Idaho® potato shipments during those weeks. And the earlier start to the contest in January will give retailers an opportunity to tie in with the Super Bowl--a perfect merchandising event for tasty potato snacks.”

In addition to pumping up Idaho® potato sales during a traditionally slower time of the year, retailers who enter an original in-store display will have a chance to win more than $150,000 in cash and prizes ($34,000 in cash prizes alone) from the IPC. Everyone who enters the contest will also receive a free Cuisinart Advantage cutlery set of precision-tapered, high-carbon stainless steel blades complete with a solid wood knife block.

With the consumer bacon craze still showing no signs of abating, IPC is once again partnering with HORMEL® Real Bacon Bits to highlight the unbeatable combo of bacon and spuds. Each in-store display should incorporate clearly marked fresh Idaho® potatoes (bag, bulk or both), Idaho® dehydrated potato products and HORMEL® Real Bacon Bits, along with point-of-sale materials from IPC and Hormel Foods. The merchandising materials for the displays include two round double-sided Potato Lover’s Month logo signs, a large and a small double-sided recipe photo sign, and two inflatable Mylar Spuddy Buddies. Clip art and recipes are also available from the IPC website at www.IdahoPotato.com/Retail.

“We provide all the ingredients for a customer-pleasing merchandising display, and our retailers’ creativity is the finishing touch,” says Bowen. “Every year we see so many different ways that retailers choose to showcase Idaho® potatoes, and these displays also help generate higher sales throughout the produce department.”

Retailers will compete with other same-size stores in one of three categories: 1-5 cash registers, 6-9 cash registers, or 10+ cash registers. Entrants within each store category are eligible to win these prizes:
• 1st place -- $1,500
• 2nd place -- $1,000
• 3rd place -- $750
• 4th place -- $500
• 5th place -- $250

In addition, the Category Manager Match Program will award equivalent cash prizes to category managers at stores that qualify for a 1st through 5th place prize. One hundred displays selected from the remaining entries will win Honorable Mention Prizes of $100.

Contest Details
Here’s how to enter the IPC Potato Lover’s Month 2015 Retail Display Contest:

1. Using fresh Idaho® potatoes (bag, bulk or both), an Idaho® dehydrated potato product, and HORMEL® Real Bacon Bits, create an eye-catching display following the contest rules (available at www.IdahoPotato.com/Retail).

2. Put up the display in your store’s produce section for at least one week between Jan. 12 and March 13, 2015.

3. Submit a photo (digital preferred) of the display and an entry form (available at www.IdahoPotato.com/Retail) to the IPC so that it’s received no later than March 27, 2015. All winners will be notified by June 1, 2015, and posted on www.IdahoPotato.com/Retail.

All entries will be judged on use of Potato Lover’s Month signage, creativity of the display, how the display incorporates the partner products, and perceived salability of the display. Judging will be done by the Potato Lover’s Month Display Contest Review Committee.

About the Idaho Potato Commission
Established in 1937, the Idaho Potato Commission (IPC) is a state agency that is responsible for promoting and protecting the famous “Grown in Idaho®” seal, a federally registered certification mark that assures consumers they are purchasing genuine, top-quality Idaho® potatoes. Idaho's growing season of warm days and cool nights, ample mountain-fed irrigation and rich volcanic soil, give Idaho Potatoes their unique texture, taste and dependable performance, that differentiates Idaho® potatoes from potatoes grown in other states.

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