KIWIS LEARN ABOUT ONIONS, STUDENTS GET CASH, THANKS TO “Vidalia O’ on the Go” CONTEST

October 07, 2010

Vidalia fundraiser winners take car tags to New Zealand, Afghanistan, even on a camel!

Vidalia, GA. October 8, 2010. Vidalia onions got positive publicity from New Orleans to New Zealand, literally, this summer thanks to a joint effort between Vidalia Comprehensive High School (VCHS) marketing students and the Vidalia onion farmers’ marketing organization.

In an effort to teach kids hands-on about marketing and get a little exposure for the area’s famous onion, the Vidalia® Onion Committee (VOC) funded the “Vidalia O’ on the Go” national summer travel contest and let students work out the details, including picking the contest name, drafting a press release, and doing a local radio announcement. The contest gave contestants who purchased an “I Heart Vidalia Onions” vehicle tag the opportunity to win one of three cash prizes from the VOC. And, students got to keep $4 of the $5 tag cost for future DECA projects. Selling a whopping 325 tags, the future marketers netted $1,300!

Contestants had to submit a picture of the “I Heart Vidalia Onions” tag on their vehicle near a landmark of the location visited. Three persons entering the farthest distance from Vidalia win cash prizes including: $300 first place cash award, $200 second place cash award, and $100 third place cash award.

Winners of the contest, which started in April and ran through mid September, are as follows:

• Howard Hill, Vidalia Staff Engineer for Trane, taken by city sign while on business trip to Christchurch, New Zealand, 8,500 miles
• Tia Norris, humvee with tag and SSGT John Norris (USAF) Asmar, Afghanistan, 7,500 miles
• Stacey Kennedy, taken at Word of Life Bible College in Monte Argentina. Stacey has vowed to send her winnings to the family she stayed with to buy a clothes dryer, 4,500 miles
• Charles Andrew, the Great Pyramids in Egypt. (While it’s debatable whether a camel meets the contest’s technical definition of a “vehicle,” it is most assuredly a mode of transportation, and the VOC has decided to award a $50 Honorable Mention to Mr. Andrew for creativity!) 6,300 miles

“Opening each email submission was like unwrapping a present,” said Wendy Brannen. “The kids did a fantastic job selling the tags, and it was so much fun seeing where the “Vidalia” name wound up! We had no idea they’d spread overseas like they did.” Brannen is executive director of the Vidalia® Onion Committee and serves on the VCHS Marketing Advisory Committee. She already envisions working with the students again next year but says they may have to add a “contiguous US” clause to the rules.
Since Vidalias are predominately a US-sold commodity, the idea is to get the name moving across the country. To reward those who met this criterion, the DECA students have decided to use part of their earnings to further supplement the prizes awarded. The following persons who traveled the most in the United States will each receive $100:

• Rose Mitchum Seattle Space Needle while visiting daughter
• Richard Zimenoff Western adventures including Boulder, CO, for son’s wedding, WY, SD, NE, MO & Alzada, MT, where the picture was taken

Bobby Stanley, marketing instructor at VCHS, says the contest was certainly successful in teaching students some of the steps involved in marketing a national brand, including the importance of concise communications and deadlines.

The Vidalia® Onion Committee was established in 1989 as Federal Marketing Order No. 955. The order authorizes production research, marketing research and development, and marketing promotion programs. The VOC administers the order locally and consists of eight producer members and their alternates and one public member and an alternate. More information about the Vidalia® Onion industry may be obtained at VidaliaOnion.org.