COOPWOOD continued from front page

about MS Sweet Potatoes and the Sweet Potato Festival have appeared in Mississippi Magazine, two issues of the Delta Business Journal, The Mississippi Market Bulletin, and Produce Business magazine. A Jr. Page, 4-color ad has also appeared in the November 12 and November 29 issues of The Packer, the produce industry's most widely read publication, with more ads scheduled to run during the peak buying season prior to Easter, during the pre-PMA and post-PMA trade show issues. Additionally, The Packer is interested in publishing a special tabloid insert about Mississippi Sweet Potatoes, similar to the ones published for North Carolina and Louisiana each year. The firm has also begun work on a website for the Mississippi Sweet Potato Council that will be operational before the end of the year. A four-color brochure with Sweet Potato recipes and nutritional facts is under design, as is a direct mail piece target to produce buyers and Sweet Potato brokers. Lana Draper, Account Representative and Creative Director for Coopwood Communications says that the response she is receiving to inquiries to magazines and newspapers has been overwhelming. "I have been amazed at the genuine interest I get with every telephone call I make about MS Sweet Potatoes," says Draper. "People know more these days about the health benefits of Sweet Potatoes and when you combine that with the great color, flexibility of use, and the economy of serving them, it is a dish whose time has come." "We are sending miniature bushel baskets filled with Sweet Potatoes to food editors of major magazines and newspapers to encourage them to do feature stories on a variety of subjects from the nutritional value to the excellent taste of Mississippi Sweet Potatoes," Draper adds. "It is such a pleasure to promote a product that we really believe in and can personally recommend." Draper continues. "I grew up on Sweet Potatoes and I am so excited about helping to introduce them to new consumers."

"It reminds me of what the people who promote milk for the dairy industry must feelÉyou just can't argue with something that good and good for you." As a full-service advertising, public relations and marketing firm, Coopwood Communications provides its services to many of North Mississippi's largest businesses, industries and institutions, such as Delta Regional Medical Center in Greenville, MS; The KBH Corporation in Clarksdale, Delta Council, the Mississippi Levee Board; State Bank and Trust Company; Delta State University; Valley State University; Staplcotton; and Madidi Restaurant and Ground Zero Blues Club owned by the actor Morgan Freeman. Coopwood Communications has recently been appointed ad agency for the new Delta Regional Authority, a newly established federal agency, headquartered in Clarksdale, which will be responsible for promoting economic development for an eight state area.

COUNCIL continued from front page

Coopwood Communications to begin work on accomplishing the following goals: to get as much publicity as possible through local, regional and national publications; to do a special direct mail program to food editors from newspapers and magazines to encourage their writing stories about the Mississippi Sweet Potato; to send targeted direct mail brochures to produce buyers, and to begin limited advertising in trade magazines. The firm also will develop a comprehensive one year marketing and advertising plan which will be presented at the annual meeting of the Sweet Potato Council on January 11, 2001. The Mississippi Department of Agriculture Marketing division is also contributing to the effort, by holding in-store promotions, running recipes and banners in each issue of the Mississippi Market Bulletin, and by working with the Mississippi Restaurant Association to have the Mississippi Sweet Potato Council sponsor and essay contest and participate in restaurant trade shows. They have also developed a television commercial and radio spot using Miss Hospitality, Jalin Wood to promote Mississippi Sweet Potatoes along with other Make Mine MS products for the holiday season, which will air state-wide. Prior to the annual meeting in January, growers will be contacted by the Sweet Potato Council and urged to voluntarily participate by financially supporting the advertising campaign. In addition to contributions by growers, the campaign will benefit by support from related business and industries-"Friends of Mississippi Sweet Potatoes", who will be asked to participate as Associate Members of the Council. We have some exciting activities underway that will carry into the new year, however, the funding that is making all of this possible is only set aside for one year. To take Mississippi Sweet Potatoes where they need to go we will need an organized financial commitment by all of our growers. We've seen where other commodities, such as the catfish industry, have created tremendous markets beyond early producers' wildest dreams. It all began with the determination and commitment of those producers and their suppliers to make it happen. Together we can make it happen for Mississippi Sweet Potatoes.

In addition to contributions by growers, the campaign will benefit by support from related business and industries-"Friends of Mississippi Sweet Potatoes", who will be asked to participate as Associate Members of the Council. We have some exciting activities underway that will carry into the new year, however, the funding that is making all of this possible is only set aside for one year. To take Mississippi Sweet Potatoes where they need to go we will need an organized financial commitment by all of our growers. We've seen where other commodities, such as the catfish industry, have created tremendous markets beyond early producers' wildest dreams. It all began with the determination and commitment of those producers and their suppliers to make it happen. Together we can make it happen for Mississippi Sweet Potatoes.

continue to page 3

<< back