Publicity, promotion work yields $14 million in ad equivalency.

At a recent Mushroom Council meeting in Chicago, it was announced that Council-funded publicity and promotional efforts during the past 12 months--from July 2006 to June 2007--generated nearly 550 million impressions among consumer and trade audiences, which is the equivalent of $14 million in advertising value and represents a more than four-to-one return on dollars invested. By comparison, in the Council's 2000 plan, which eventually was abandoned in light of the first amendment litigation, the goal for media impressions was only 250 million and was considered aggressive at that time.

One major initiative that has contributed to the 2007 media impressions to date is the Mushroom Council's partnership with Bob Greene's Best Life Diet, which enables participating growers and shippers to carry Greene's Best Life mark of approval on fresh mushroom packaging until December 31, 2008. Through coverage of the Best Life program on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," Greene's endorsement of mushrooms has reached nearly 20 million consumers, which alone shows the importance of adding the Best Life mark to mushroom packs at retail.

While the industry eagerly awaits results of a current in-store advertising test promoting the natural antioxidants in mushrooms, some other notable promotional materials have recently emerged from the Council and include brochures for nutrition and foodservice communications as well as a general foodservice sales presentation.

After much refinement based on input from USDA, a new mushroom nutrition brochure is available thanks in large part to the support of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture's matching grant. The brochure offers general information about mushroom varieties and highlights mushroom nutrients, including the antioxidants ergothioneine and selenium, copper, potassium, vitamin D and B-complex vitamins. It also links to the Council's new What the Science Says Web page at mushroominfo.com/studies so that the brochure can serve as an evergreen resource for the latest in mushroom health news while the Web page is continually updated as new studies are published.

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The Council also has printed quantities of a new general appeal foodservice brochure that features contemporary mushroom recipe concepts and photography, updated nutrition information as well as current, consistent storage and handling information. This brochure along with a generic, customizable Power Point sales presentation template will help support both private and Council efforts to get more mushrooms on the menu. The presentation includes basic information about the mushroom industry, current consumer and foodservice trend data, demographics on mushroom consumers and snapshots of the latest mushroom menu items from chains across the country.

To place orders for hard copies of the nutrition or foodservice brochures, or to request electronic copies of the brochures or the foodservice sales presentation template, please contact the Council at 408/432-7210.

Next month, the Council will share exciting results of a recently completed retail cold chain study that should shed some new light (and promise for improvement) on the potential to increase retail performance with proper mushroom care and handling.

The Council is indeed back ... and building momentum. The best is yet to come.

Bart Minor

Mushroom Council President

bart@mushroomcouncil.com

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