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2 We re delighted you ve chosen to register for Chip Week 2015, this guide aims to provide you with a range of ideas to help you promote your chips not just during Chip Week but throughout the year. We ve developed this guide to help you promote your business and boost sales all year round. It includes ideas to help you make the most of Chip Week 2015 (16-22 February), plus effective PR and marketing strategies designed to attract customers and encourage loyalty. We hope it proves to be a useful tool for your business. If you would like to contact us directly, you can us at chipweek@potato.ahdb.org.uk

3 Chip Week helps to create a huge amount of noise for chips. Last year it achieved an incredible 5 million worth of coverage, reaching over 163 million consumers Television coverage included The One Show, Wright Stuff and This Morning Radio stations covering Chip Week included BBC Radio 2, Absolute Radio and TalkSPORT Hundreds of Chip Week articles appeared in the press, including features in The Sun, The Express, The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail, Metro and the Sunday Mirror Social media platforms reached over 30 million consumers during the Week, a tenfold increase on 2013! Over 900 chip shops, pubs and restaurants signed up to take part and a record breaking total of almost 63,000 votes were cast for entrants in the Choice Chip Awards

4 BUNTING This year the new Chip Week kit, which will be sent to all participating outlets, will contain: POSTERS VOTING CARDS TABLE TALKERS WINDOW STICKERS LOYALTY CARDS

5 The Choice Chip Awards are a great way to raise awareness for your business, with customers and in the local media. Use the Chip Week promotional material to drum up interest and support from your local community and give yourself the best chance of winning the title: Best Chippy Chips in Great Britain! Categories for 2015 are: National Champion Regional Champions: Scotland Wales North East East of England South West London South East The Midlands North West Yorkshire and County Champions Customers can vote, either by completing a voting card and handing it in at their favourite chippy or by voting online at Online voting ends at midnight on Saturday 7 February. All cards need to be sent to our Melton Mowbray address (see below) by Tuesday 10 February 2015, so be sure to post your voting cards to us using a next day delivery service on Monday 9 February otherwise you may lose valuable votes! Please do not send voting forms directly to Potato Council, they need to be sent to our mailing house address in order to count! Please send your voting forms to: Chip Week 2015, c/o Hallmark Consumer Services, 1 Hudson Road, Saxby Road Ind. Est, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire LE13 1BS. For full terms and conditions see covering letter. Des Anastasou and Lesley Graves, who run Burton Road Chippy, were delighted after claiming the Best Chippy Chips title for the second year running last year. Des said: We take great pride in sourcing only the best locally grown Maris Piper potatoes for our chips. We peel, wash and prepare the potatoes in the shop every morning so that they are fresh and ready for each customer s order, the same way we always have since we have opened the shop in We feel honoured to be recognised as the best chippy for the second year running and we must thank our fantastic team for all their hard work and most importantly our loyal customers who voted for us to win!

6 Good PR is hugely important to any local business and a great way of generating publicity. In addition, a strong PR message will: Help engage with existing customers and build loyalty Attract new customers and increase sales Set you apart from the competition Raise your profi le within the community KEY TO SUCCESSFUL PR Take time to read your local paper and become familiar with the types of stories it runs Learn the names of the key journalists and fi nd out their contact details Be aware of their copy deadlines it s never a good time to call when they are on press deadline! Make sure you have a great story to tell, ideally with a local angle. For example, the press will be interested to hear that you are raising money for a local charity as part of your Chip Week celebrations or you could simply tell them that you re entered into the Choice Chip Awards and encourage readers to vote for you BEFORE YOU CALL MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A CLEAR STORY AND KEY MESSAGES TO HAND: What are you doing? (eg a charity event) Why are you doing it? (eg to raise money and awareness) Why that particular week? (eg It s Chip Week) What are you offering? (eg free chips to those taking part) What can customers do? (eg vote for us online or use voting cards)

7 Journalists are always on the lookout for fun and newsworthy local stories, so make sure your activity is headline grabbing. You could consider running the following events during Chip Week: Charity event: Agree to donate 1p for every portion of chips sold to charity Special offers: Offer a free bag of chips with every three ordered Free air time: Send chips to your local radio station and ask them to mention that you are competing in the Choice Chip Awards in return Almost famous: Hire a celebrity lookalike or, even better, if you have any famous customers or friends, invite them to come along during the Week Social media: Use your Twitter or Facebook page to ask customers to vote for you in the Choice Chip Awards Fact finding: Use our key chip facts from Press release: Request a template press release which you can use to send out to your local media by ing: marketing@potato.ahdb.org.uk

8 Promotion shouldn t be a once yearly event, which is why Potato Council is offering chip shops year-round material! Generic promotional kits will be available to businesses from June 2015, which will include: Window stickers for your shop with tips to help you achieve great quality chips An eye-catching poster featuring chips to tempt customers through the door Loyalty cards you can use to reward loyal customers as you choose A window sticker to promote your loyalty cards If you would like to order a free kit either chipweek@potato.ahdb.org.uk or call To order more point of sale material (including voting cards): Call: chipweek@potato.ahdb.org.uk For general enquiries regarding your Choice Chip Award entry: Call or chipweek@potato.ahdb.org.uk If you have a general enquiry regarding Chip Week 2015: marketing@potato.ahdb.org.uk Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board 2015 All rights reserved. Potato Council is a division of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, Stoneleigh Park, Kenilworth, Warwickshire CV8 2TL