East of England Co-operative - Producer of the Year

In December 2018 we were approached by the East of England Co-op and asked to provide event and PR support for their annual Producer of the Year competition.

This involved putting on three events in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex where the two shortlisted producers in each county could show off their produce and compete for votes.

 

Objectives:

• Reach multiple demographics – students, young people, couples, families and the elderly
• Secure votes from the public
• Secure press coverage

Implementation:

To mark the seventh anniversary of the competition – and to connect young and old audiences - we ran an over-70s and under-sevens tea party in Essex. This brought together a local primary school and a residential home for afternoon tea, showcasing jam and sandwiches – the produce of the two Essex producers shortlisted.

In Norwich, both producers shortlisted were breweries so we saw an opportunity to target the student market. We organised a mini beer festival at UEA in Norwich, treating students to samples to tie in with the end of Dry January.

Finally, we did a ‘love local’ street food party in Woodbridge, Suffolk, targeting couples and families with a Valentine’s Day-themed taste test and competition to win a love cake and spice hamper to show-off the two Woodbridge-producers shortlisted for Suffolk.

Results and evaluation:

• Our events targeted specific demographics and all the required audiences.
• We secured more than 1,200 votes from the events alone - double what was achieved last year. Our overall PR support helped to generate 18,944 votes in total.
• We amassed a total of 114 pieces of media coverage between 01 Dec - 20 March with a reach of 40,783.453.