Home : Resources : Monthly Shipping Reports : 2010 January

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January 2010 Industry News 

 

SHIPMENT SUMMARY

Mushroom Council First Handler Reports (millions of pounds; totals may not match due to rounding).

 

COUNCIL UPDATE

• Appointments for 2010 have been announced. Please welcome Jim Angelucci, Jim Howard and Roberto Ramirez to the Council. The 2010 Council members are: 
                      Region 1: Greg McLain & Fletcher Street 
                      Region 2: Jim Angelucci, Jim Howard, Kathi Lafferty and Greg Sagan 
                      Region 3: Joe Caldwell and Roberto Ramirez

• The call for nominations for terms beginning January 1, 2011 for regions 1 (All states except for CA & PA), 2 (PA) and 3 (CA) will be mailed on February 1, 2010. 
                      The U. S. Department of Agriculture, as well as the Council, encourages 
                      all eligible producers including women, minorities and individuals with 
                      disabilities to participate in the nominations and seek nomination to 
                      serve on the Council.

• The next Council meeting will be held on February 2 & 3, 2010 in Burlingame, CA. The meeting on Tuesday, February 2^nd will go from approximately 2-8pm and on Wednesday, February 3^rd from approximately 8am to 12pm. If you are planning to attend either one or both of these days, please e-mail Cheryl@mushroomcouncil.org or call 408-432-7210 so that we can be sure to make room for you. 

• It is time to apply for Exemption Certificates. 2009 Exemption Certificates are no longer valid. If you are exempt, an application for exemption should be completed and mailed to the Council office. Please remember that exemption status is not retroactive; it is good from the date of application through the end of the calendar year of application. 

• The Council has been working on Truck Panels for you to put on your trucks; click here to see the artwork; click here to see the style guide. Details about the truck panels will be given and order sheets will be provided to give everyone an opportunity to put their order in. 

• 2010 Power Period 1 materials and all of 2010 recipes are now available and can be found on the Council website by clicking here. If high-resolution pictures are needed, contact the Council office.

 

MARKETING SUMMARY

TOTAL IMPRESSIONS/PLACEMENTS TO DATE:
     December impressions overview:

      *To note: there is a delay in receiving retail clips. After last month’s report was

       published, an additional 48,914 impressions were received.

 

In December, the Mushroom Council had an average of 36 percent share of voice. While conducting reactive media outreach, we generally expect Mushroom Council coverage to represent 25 percent or less of mushroom placements, according to average consumer product and commodity industry standards. Note that there are always external factors or industry forces that could change that metric.

 

The spike in media coverage this month – the highest for December since the Council began tracking in 2006 – can be attributed to a number of long-lead placements published, garnering more than 55 million consumer/nutrition impressions. Many of these magazine hits highlighted mushrooms for their immunity benefits, a topic that continued to garner media attention this cold and flu season. Mushrooms were also featured as a low calorie, nutrient-dense food in a variety of articles about New Year’s weight management resolutions.

Mushroom Share of Voice: 

 

November Sales
Your dollars spent on proactive initiatives lead to message reverberation in reactive months! The mushroom industry saw the highest mushroom movement in any time period during the month of October and the upward trend continued into November, with pound growth increasing nearly another ten percent.

 

Mushrooms in the News and Online:

• Eleven long-lead magazine placements were generated this month, including coverage in Prevention, Cooking Light, Bon Appetit and Shape, accruing to more than 55 million impressions. Nearly half of these stories promoted mushrooms as a food to help maintain the immune system, as cold and flu season continued to be a popular topic for media throughout December.

• Nearly 30 percent of coverage this month highlighted mushrooms as low in calories and nutrient-dense, a common topic to gear up for readers’ New Year’s weight management resolutions. Coverage on NYTimes.com brought in more than 16 million impressions alone. The article stated, “Mushrooms also are a nutritional bargain. Two ounces of sliced white mushrooms – about a cup – contain only 15 calories, and they are among the best dietary sources of B vitamins.”

• In December, several articles publicized swapping meat for mushrooms. The Plain Dealer (Cleveland.com)noted, “Slash major calories and saturated fat and increase taste using chopped mushrooms instead of meat.” Articles about saving calories by swapping meat for mushrooms generated nearly 8.5 million impressions.

• During the last week of December, the Council distributed a press release, “Pack Meals with Superfoods to Maximize Healthy Resolutions,” to introduce the partnership with nutrition expert Keri Glassman, M.S., R.D, C.D.N. and get a jump start on New Year’s resolution stories. The release highlighted many of the nutritional benefits of mushrooms, and recognized other best-kept secret superfoods from Glassman’s new book, The O2 Diet. In total, more than 200 outlets picked up the release, garnering nearly one million impressions. Outlets reached include 134 news stations’ Web sites, 43 business journals and 27 additional Web sites such as Reuters.com and Forbes.com. 

• The fall/winter issue of the Council’s nutrition newsletter, “News About Mushrooms,” was distributed to nearly 2,000 nutrition influencers. The newsletter describes the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s updated National Nutrient Database, which now includes vitamin D values for mushrooms, and highlights the Council’s partnership with City of Hope. 

• Mushroom Council placements represented an average of 36 percent of total mushroom news in December, which exceeds the norm of 25 percent or less in a reactive period. To view all December placements, click here.

• In December, MushroomInfo.com and MushroomChannel.com experienced 9,270 unique visitors combined, a 20 percent decrease compared to November’s total unique visitors. Visitors to the Mushroom Channel and MushroomInfo.com visitors have slightly decreased over the last three months. The holidays are traditionally a slower traffic time online, leading to an expected boost in January.

• Twitter and Mushroom Channel subscriber numbers have continued to rise steadily. The Council has 1,350 Twitter and Facebook followers to date. Obtaining these followers resulted in 937,462 total online exposures through December, compared to November’s total of 795,538, an 18 percent increase.

 

On the Retail Front:

• The Council developed an anonymous online survey to help the Council determine which tools, materials and communications are most useful to industry members. The survey was distributed in January and results will help guide programming in 2010.

• The Council created a case study Q&A to define the types of retail participation needed to showcase success with mushrooms. This also can be used as a sales tool that gives you additional fodder for discussions with your retailers. To access this document, click here.

• The Council developed retail newsletter articles for the final issue on 2009 initiatives. The issue will focus on the impressive pink sales, vitamin D, New Year’s resolutions and in-store advertising. Look for it in your inbox in early 2010!

For a more detailed report click here (most recent Mushrooms Top Line report).
For larger image, click here.

 

On the Foodservice Front:

• Foodservice media outreach resulted in a full page mushroom photo in an article about African cuisine, as well as an article featuring Chef Advisory Board member Guillermo Pernot discussing house-pickled mushrooms as a top culinary trend of 2010. In addition, other December placements continued to keep mushrooms in pizza and side dish stories. School Nutrition.

• For an update on the status of the Council’s foodservice promotional pursuits, click here; to see new mushroom menu items for December click here.