Fresh Promotional Trends: Nothing Trivial About ‘Ogres and Onions’ Online Contest

Ogres and onions shook up produce aisles, VidaliaOnion.org and even schools this spring and summer in a big way, with nearly 43,000 Vidalia onion fans logging on to play on the revamped VidaliaOnion.org website.

The Vidalia, Ga.-based Vidalia Onion Committee (VOC) joined forces 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 made their way 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, VOC’s executive director. “On top of that, it was just plain fun,” she added, noting that the cool interactive game featured loveable characters from the film franchise, swamp sounds and, of course, sweet Vidalias. “I wish we could have left it on the site forever,” Brannan quipped.

“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.

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

VOC’s “Shrek” campaign also garnered ample publicity in major media outlets over the summer, including a front-page article in the Wall Street Journal, available here: The Onion’s Best Friend is an Ogre.

For more information, visit VidaliaOnion.org.