Potatoes USA: Raising Awareness of Nutrition

Why Strava

Potatoes USA wanted to reach a younger audience with a deep interest in physical activity, nutrition, and athletic performance, so building a community and crafting a marketing activation on the world’s largest athletic community was a no-brainer. Additionally, they were also drawn to the fact that they could build a highly engaged, always-on community through Strava clubs.

Prior to hopping on Strava, Potatoes USA had an active Facebook group named “Team Potato”, where members would frequently post about their workout activities fueled by potatoes. They noticed that members would frequently link their Strava activities, so they decided to activate on Strava directly. Additionally, their Facebook group skewed towards an older audience (55+), and they wanted to reach younger people (18-34).

Impact

Potatoes USA aimed to build awareness and engagement through their Potato Power-up challenge, and that’s what they were able to achieve with their creatively themed activation. Understanding the importance of ensuring their marketing campaign had a direct tie-in to their product’s value, Potatoes USA challenged Strava users to complete 620 minutes of activity during February, as a 5.3oz skin-on potato provides 620 miligrams of potassium. Over the course of their challenge, over 100,000 participants logged over 2 million activities totalling nearly 1.8 million hours of exercise. 

The Potato Power-up challenge also translated into long term effects, with the newly-created Team Potato club gaining over 2,000 new members. The posts in Team Potato are always entertaining, with members sharing their favorite ways to consume a potato, showing off their activities and other fun content. They also saw a great clickthrough rate, with a large percentage of finishers following through and completing the email signup form.

Learnings and Next Steps

Buoyed by the results of their first Strava challenge, Potatoes USA has since run another challenge, called the  Power of 3, with that challenge garnering nearly 90,000 participants. They are continuing to explore how they can further build on their Strava success and run additional challenges to spread “potato love”: AKA drive more engagement and additional participation.