SWEET VIDALIA®/SHREK® “DREAM TEAM” SHATTERS ONION’S PRIOR CONSUMER CONTEST RECORDS

September 02, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Ashley Lansdale
Sahlman Williams
(813) 251-4242 ext. 226

Wendy Brannen
Vidalia® Onion Committee
(912) 537-1918

SWEET VIDALIA®/SHREK® “DREAM TEAM” SHATTERS ONION’S PRIOR CONSUMER CONTEST RECORDS
‘Ogres and Onions’ online trivia contest attracts 43,000 entrants

Vidalia, Ga. (August 23, 2010) – What do ogres and onions have in common? They shook up produce aisles, VidaliaOnion.org, and even schools this spring and summer! Nearly 43,000 Vidalia onion fans played to win on the newly revamped VidaliaOnion.org website, increasing the number of consumer contest entries more than 400 percent over previous campaign contests. A second contest garnered thousands more entries specifically from school kids across the country.

The Vidalia® Onion Committee partnered with DreamWorks Animation, SKG Inc., to promote the original sweet onion in conjunction with the release of Shrek Forever After®, the last installment in the Shrek movie series. Through in-store POS displays and other components of an aggressive public relations and marketing campaign, consumers were invited to VidaliaOnion.org to help Shrek search for onions and learn Vidalia trivia in his virtual enchanted swamp.

“Our Hunt ‘n Peel Trivia contest exposed well over 40,000 current and potential Vidalia purchasers to Vidalia product information,” said Wendy Brannen, Vidalia® Onion Committee executive director. “On top of that, it was just plain fun! Our graphics team created such a cool, interactive game with the lovable Shrek characters, swamp sounds, and of course sweet Vidalias. I wish we could have left it on the site forever!”

Shrek-themed packaging and POS, both of which featured “Shrek-tacular, kid-friendly recipes” and details of the ogre-sized consumer contest prize pack, were a key component to driving consumers to VidaliaOnion.org.

The grand-prize winner of the consumer contest is Kelsey Miller, a 10-year-old girl from Citronelle, Alabama. Kelsey will receive the “Ultimate TV Video Gaming Package” consisting of a 50” HDTV, Wii™ game system and Shrek Forever After™ videogame courtesy of Activision. 100 other winners will receive the Shrek Forever After™ Wii™ videogame.

Additionally, the VOC promoted Vidalias on school milk cartons nationwide in June. More than 4,000 students from kindergarten through 12th grade entered an online contest thanks to Shrek and Vidalia messaging on these milk cartons. Fifty prize winners received a Shrek Forever After® Nintendo DS™ video game.

For more information, please e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or visit VidaliaOnion.org.

The Vidalia® Onion Committee was established in 1989 as Federal Marketing Order No. 955. The order authorizes production research and marketing promotion programs. The Vidalia® Onion Committee administers the order locally and consists of eight producer members and their alternates and one public member and an alternate.

Shrek Forever After ® & © 2010 DreamWorks Animation L.L.C. ###