8 Additionally, we held a preview party with series host, Chip Cater, at the Barn at Broadslab where we debuted our 2-part episode featuring NC Sweetpotatoes in his new National TV Series, Where the Food Comes From, which airs on RFD-TV every Thursday evening. It was such an amazing night and allowed many of us to come together and celebrate just why this industry is not only great, it is sweet too, and now the rest of the world has the chance to watch and learn all about what it is that we do! As if National Sweetpotato Month couldn’t get any better, we revealed one last sweet surprise as we continue to celebrate our year-long 60th Anniversary celebration… in the form of a SWEET Toast! A Double Oaked Barrel Bourbon toast that is! The Johnston County Bourbon Society (JCBS) approached us this past summer with an amazing invitation to help select their 6th Barrel pick which was in partnership with Woodford Reserve. While we ‘picked our barrel’ in June, the bottles did not arrive until February (thank you supply chain issues!) and they were quickly scooped up by both bourbon aficionados and collectors alike! The JCBS commissioned local artist Robynn Hales of Red Feather Designs to create the art which appears on this collector’s edition of bourbon. It is absolutely beautiful and the original piece, including the barrel head, will proudly hang in our office for years to come. As we enter March, which is National Nutrition month, we will be promoting all of the nutritional benefits of our favorite veggie and working to collaborate with some incredibly exciting organizations and individuals. Stay tuned to our social media accounts, and be sure that you are receiving your weekly edition of Tater Talk (every Tuesday via email) and of course, don’t hesitate to stop by our office to say ‘hello’ next time you are in Benson! The planning for the convention is well underway and we will soon be sharing details, however, I can promise you that this will be an event you do not want to miss! In February, we celebrated National Sweetpotato Month, while it may be our shortest month of the year, we more than maximized every day we had to promote NC Sweetpotatoes! We ran a statewide billboard campaign with a total of 16 billboards running from Asheville to Wilmington and a few points in between. The messages on these boards varied from our production leadership to our superfood status, to educating about the one-word spelling to the versatility and natural immunity-boosting elements of our favorite root all while using strong graphics and beautiful imagery of sweetpotatoes prepared in a number of ways! For our digital boards, we even changed the messages based on the time of day to promote various ways one may enjoy a sweetpotato at different times of the day. We couldn’t stop there, as we also had a few other surprises up our sleeves. Additionally, we unveiled a pilot partnership with Harris Teeter Pharmacy where we worked through the use of graphic advertisements to make the connection of Food as Medicine – by promoting NC Sweetpotatoes and the many nutritional benefits one receives when consuming sweetpotatoes and put a message, complete with QR code to our recipes on their prescription bags. The Pharmacy team could not be more excited about this message!
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