Eat Local Campaign Task Force Meeting-Notes/Next Steps

Monday, April 6, 1-3pm at VSJF and via go-to-meeting

Attendance: Carrie Abels (Local Banquet), Tom Bivins (VT Cheese Council), Chris Howell (VT Farm Tours), Beth Cullen (Root Consulting), Tara Kelly (Rutland Area Farm and Food Link), Ellen Kahler (VSJF), Rachel Carter (VSJF), Stephanie Smith (VSJF)

  • Ellen updated on supply and demand and wholesale work taking place in Network
  • Rachel updated on questions included in Vermonter Poll (we just made the deadline after the last task force meeting!)
  • Sharing of our research on successful eat local/behavior change campaigns nationwide (spreadsheet attached, updated in the google drive):

Tom: Got Milk campaign

Powerful phrase, ended up being used by other groups, by celebrities, and parodied, which eventually diluted the focus on milk

Got weed, drugs, gut deer – got negative – Must Be the Milk is new campaign

A whimsical campaign, with the milk mustache, celebrities

An example of generic advertising/primary demand advertising

Nicole:Fair Trade and Organic Trade Association

see Google Drive document

Carrie: Beef, It’s What’s For Dinner and Pork: the Other White Meat

Takeaways from the pork campaign:

We might want to think about comparing local food with something else (pork was being compared with chicken – “the other white meat”)

Do we want to directly address people’s pre-conceptions about local food? (pork campaign acknowledge that people think pork is fatty)

Pork and beef campaigns engaged in recipe sharing and provided ideas on how to use these meats in new eays – can we present new ways in which local food can be used?

What is surprising about local food? (Pork: “surprisingly low in calories,” etc.)

Beef campaign made it seem like cooking beef was easy to do

Beef campaign Incorporated ethnic recipes using beef – eat local campaign should do the same

Lots of information was provided in different places (on saving money, cooking, etc.)

Now the beef campaign is focusing more on nutrition with a 30 day protein challenge; should we consider a 30-day eat local challenge?

Erica:VT-HEALTH/Breastfeeding for New Moms(from google drive)

Erica’s recommendations:

Hire a photographer, use real people (this campaign used stock imagery)

Is there a way we can help people with their local food purchases and incorporate local food into their diets, instead of saying “help the farmer” or “help Vermont”?

Stay away from saying “we need your help”… what’s in it for the consumer?

Posters, stickaways, giveaways – tangibles

Beth: Recycling and Seattle Compost Campaign

Need for tweaking messaging to target audiences (baby-boomer population was less responsive, so marketing was created specifically for this group)

Addressing pre-conceptions of composting and what can be composted

Shaming: red tagged bins that are not sorted correctly

Next Steps:

  • Carrie will be updating the research document over the next month into a more accessible format and sending it out to the group.
  • Once we have the updated format, scheduling a call to review the format. Then everyone who was responsible for research can addmore detailed findings; specifically any key takeaways for VT to ponder and/or recommendations for any key things we should avoid.
  • The next Consumer Education and Marketing Meeting will be Tuesday, June 9 from 9:30am-12:30pm. Additional next steps for the task force will be discussed at that meeting.