FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 2006
Contact: Julie Scott
Toll free: 877-748-9693
Julie@thackergroup.com

Bright, Bold and Brand New. North Carolina SweetPotato Commission launches a new look for an old favorite.

SMITHFIELD, N.C. — Tradition, strength, nostalgia and trust. These are all qualities the North Carolina SweetPotato Commission (www.ncsweetpotatoes.com) is confident it will convey with its new vibrant orange logo. The new look will soon appear on labels, bags, boxes, recipe
brochures, hats and t-shirts along with other materials and merchandise.

The new logo was originally developed for use in the state’s sweet potato marketing programs in the United Kingdom, a relatively new market for the sweet potato growers in North Carolina. “We really wanted to make a splash in the UK and felt like we needed a whole new look for that audience. We conducted surveys and focus groups here and in the UK to gauge how consumers would receive this look,” says Sue Johnson-Langdon, executive director of the North Carolina SweetPotato Commission and a sweet potato grower. “The response was so
overwhelmingly positive, that we decided to incorporate this design in our domestic marketing and communication materials, too,” she continues.

The vibrant orange color is reflective of the color of sweet potatoes. The wording on the logo gives the consumer the point of origin and also emphasizes the nutrition factor regarding sweet potatoes. “The ‘naturally healthy’ line on the logo really drives home the point that sweet
potatoes are naturally nutritious, alone or as an ingredient,” explains Johnson-Langdon. “The sort of bluejean-label look conveys a sense of tradition, strength and nostalgia — linking America’s greatest industry, farming, with one of the most traditional and sustaining vegetables,”
she continues.

Bright, Bold and Brand New — North Carolina SweetPotato Commission launches a new look …The logo will be available for packers and shippers to include on their boxes, for chefs to include on their menus and for retailers to use in point-of-purchase materials or in-store flyers and advertisements. Contact Sue Johnson-Langdon for information about how to acquire
permission to use the logo: ncsweetsue@aol.com or 919-989-7323.

The North Carolina SweetPotato Commission, Inc. is a non-profit corporation (IRS 501 (c) (5), which was chartered on June 30, 1961. For more than forty years North Carolina farmers have increased sweet potato consumption by collectively funding promotional programs, providing timely and relevant information to themselves as well as consumers, funding research and development projects and encouraging the use of good seed stock and horticultural practices among producers.
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