A picture is said to be worth 1,000 words, and Red River Valley potato growers and shippers hope the same holds true for logos.
The Northern Plains Potato Growers Association, East Grand Forks, N.D., recently unveiled a Red River Valley Potatoes logo designed to improve brand identity, said Ted Kreis, marketing and communications director.
With 13 fresh-market packers in the area, the many in-house labels tended to be fragmented in the market. The old triangle-shaped logo also was dated and went unused in many cases, he said.
Work on a logo redesign began last summer when the association approached Valley Bag & Supply Co., East Grand Forks, about the project.
“It’s something that I would have liked done a long time ago,” Kreis said. “Our new chairman, Carl Hoverson, had the same idea.”
Kreis and Valley Bag & Supply worked with a Minneapolis graphic design firm to develop the logo.
After three months of concepts going back and forth between wash plant operators and the association’s advertising and promotions committee, a finalist emerged.
“There’s very little opposition to it, which is surprising after having the other one in place for so many years,” he said.
The new logo will begin appearing this fall in trade show displays, pamphlets, print ads and websites.
The redesign also included a mock-up for a 5-pound polybag featuring the new logo prominently on the front.
Although the new design also will be available for wash-plant operators to use on their bags and other packaging, Kreis said the old logo will likely remain in circulation for several years.
“It will take years for all of the old packaging to be replaced, so at the retail level I don’t expect to see a whole lot of it the first year,” Kreis said. “Nobody’s going to throw out their old packaging.”
To help the logo hit the market place sooner, a tag for a plastic closure clip was designed that can be used on existing bags.
The new logo is designed to complement the Goodness Unearthed campaign from the Denver-based U.S. Potato Board, Kreis said.
The Red River Valley logo features a river cutting through two potato fields that represent the 250 members in North Dakota and Minnesota. The region’s dark, heavy soil also is highlighted in the furrows of the fields.
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