Chip Week 2014 (17-23 February) received massive support, achieving an incredible £5million worth of coverage and reaching over 163 million consumers. In the run up to, and during the Week, Potato Council’s Chip Skills Programme actively supported chip shops across the country, encouraging businesses to make the most of the lucrative platform.
At a time when chips were being featured on primetime television and radio programmes, as well as in national and regional press and across social media channels, all chip shops that had registered to take part in Chip Week were supported with promotional material to help them drive chip sales during the Week and throughout the rest of the year.
TV, radio, newspapers, social media…
Television coverage of Chip Week included The One Show, Wright Stuff and This Morning. Radio stations covering the Week included BBC Radio 2, Absolute Radio and TalkSPORT and articles appeared in The Sun, The Express, The Guardian, Metro, Sunday Mirror, The Daily Mail and The Telegraph – to name a few.
Chip Week 2014 was also highly visible across social media platforms, which alone reached over 30 million consumers during the Week, a tenfold increase on 2013. Twitter was inundated with Chip Week mentions, with tweets from @BBCGoodFoodShow (81,500 followers) and Great British Chefs @gbchefs (29,400 followers) amongst others.
Industry support
Part of its success can be attributed to the industry-wide support that Chip Week receives. Retailers, foodservice operators and brand owners got behind the high profile promotional activity; Asda, Co-op and Waitrose all carried on-pack messages about Chip Week, while Primark, McCain, Sarsons and Lord Chips supported the Chip Week messaging through themed products, competitions and promotions.
Choice Chip awards
What’s more, with 900 chip shops, pubs and restaurants signing up to take part in this year’s Chip Week celebrations, support from loyal customers reached a record breaking high with almost 63,000 votes cast for the Choice Chip Awards. Lincoln’s Burton Road Chippy and The Crown in Henlow, Berkshire were both crowned Choice Chip Award champions for the second year running after loyal customers continued to show their support.
Furthermore, the Love Chips website received over 36,000 visits from 1st January to the 28th February – a 60% uplift on last year!
Stu Baker, Chip Week campaign manager for Potato Council, said:
“Chip Week serves as an important platform for everyone involved in the supply chain and relies greatly on the support of the whole industry. With one in four potatoes ending up as chips, it is important that we continue to support this important market for the crop.
“As successful and high profile as it is, Chip Week is only one aspect of the work we do at Potato Council to support chip sales. Our Chip Skills programme provides year round support, helping chip shop owners to improve chip quality, promote their own business and boost sales throughout the year.”
To discuss opportunities for involvement in Chip Week 2015, please contact Potato Council Marketing on 024 7647 8773 or email marketing@potato.ahdb.org.uk
Chip Week is run by Potato Council. Funded by potato growers and potato trade buyers, Potato Council supports the British potato industry and is a division of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board