The Idaho Potato Commission (IPC) recently released the newest addition to its series of memorable TV commercials starring “real Idaho potato farmer” Mark Coombs in search of the famed Big Idaho Potato Truck. In this fourth spot, Coombs sets off on a mission with his bloodhound Otis to find the missing truck after he sees college football sideline reporter Heather Cox with the truck on the local news.
The “Missing” commercials featuring Coombs made their debut four years ago during the first Big Idaho Potato Truck Tour.
“Pairing our two largest marketing campaigns has proven to be highly successful,” says IPC president and CEO Frank Muir. “By featuring the Truck in our ads, we are essentially promoting the tour 10 months out of the year. We know the campaign works because almost everywhere the truck travels, folks who have seen the commercial tell the traveling Tater Team to go home!”
The new commercial made its national debut during the Boise State-Washington football game Sept. 5 and began running regularly in mid-October on national cable networks including the Food Network, CNN, Headline News, Fox News, the History Channel and the Cooking Channel. The commercial will air through early February and generate more than 550 million audience impressions.
Heather Cox, a college football reporter who has been working with the IPC for three years, made a cameo appearance in the commercial. During football season, Cox, an Idaho resident, helps drum up excitement for Idaho potatoes among college football fans and potato lovers across the country. Currently, she is helping the IPC promote its first online tailgating recipe contest.
The Big Idaho Potato Truck recently completed its fourth cross-country journey. The tour began in 2012 as a one-year campaign to celebrate the IPC’s 75th anniversary and it was quickly made apparent, based on the reaction from consumers, the industry and the media, that the truck would not be retiring anytime soon. Today, it’s a genuine part of pop culture that has visited 48 states, met millions of Americans and generated billions of media impressions.
Source: KMVT News