IPC’s Retail Display Contest to Award $150,000 in Cash and Prizes

It’s time for the Idaho Potato Commission’s (IPC) 21st annual Potato Lover’s Month Retail Dis­play Con­test. This Feb­ru­ary the IPC’s longest-running pro­mo­tion will offer $150,000 in cash and prizes for the nation’s best retail dis­plays fea­tur­ing Idaho pota­toes, and every­one who enters will receive a free portable iPod dock­ing station.

Erupt­ing vol­ca­noes, helmet-topped spud foot­ball teams and giant Idaho maps made of pota­toes are just a few of the win­ning ideas that retail­ers have employed to drive Feb­ru­ary spud sales and earn cash prizes. “This is a great way to pep up potato sales dur­ing Feb­ru­ary, which can be a slow month,” said Seth Pem­sler, vice pres­i­dent of retail and inter­na­tional for the Eagle, Idaho-based IPC. “Besides the incen­tive of cash prizes, stores will see increased traf­fic in the pro­duce depart­ment when they put up a cre­ative, crowd-pleasing pro­mo­tional dis­play. Some of our past win­ners have reported sales increases of 20 per­cent, 50 per­cent and more!”

Retail­ers will be com­pet­ing with other stores their own size in one of three cat­e­gories: 1–5 cash reg­is­ters, 6–9 cash reg­is­ters or 10+ cash reg­is­ters. Entrants within each store cat­e­gory will com­pete for the fol­low­ing prizes: $1,500 for first place, $1,000 for sec­ond place, $750 for third place, $500 for fourth place, $250 for fifth place and 100 hon­or­able men­tion prizes of $100 will go to dis­plays selected from the remain­ing entries. The cat­e­gory man­ager of the store that secures a top place (1st through 5th) will win a match­ing prize.

Here’s how retail­ers can enter the IPC Potato Lover’s Month 2012 Retail Dis­play Contest:

1. Cre­ate an invit­ing dis­play with fresh Idaho pota­toes, an Idaho dehy­drated potato prod­uct, Mrs. Dash Sea­son­ing Blends and Molly McBut­ter, fol­low­ing the con­test rules.
2. Put up the dis­play in the store’s pro­duce sec­tion for at least one week between Jan­u­ary 30 and March 2, 2012.
3. Sub­mit a pic­ture of the dis­play and an entry form to the IPC so that it is received by March 16, 2012. Win­ners will be noti­fied by May 2, 2012.

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 saleabil­ity of the dis­play. Judg­ing will be done by the Potato Lover’s Month Dis­play Con­test Review Committee.

Retail­ers can find con­test rules and sub­mit pho­tos at www.IdahoPotato.com/Retail.