Vidalia Onion Promo a Hit with Facebook Fans

The Vidalia Onion Committee (VOC) launched its new Vidalia Onion Facebook page in conjunction with a coupon offer and its second annual “Sweet Vidalias & Country Music” promotional partnership with Universal Music Group Nashville.

Consumers who “liked” the Vidalia Facebook page received a coupon to purchase Vidalia Onions by the pound or to buy bags of Vidalia Onions featuring country artists and new versions of old Southern recipes. Home cooks were also encouraged each week to enter a recipe photo contest to win country music CDs autographed by Universal artists. Weekly photo winners were entered to win a grand-prize trip for two to the set of a country music video. Participants were also given a free download of any of the 400,000 songs in the Universal Music catalog.

Wendy Brannen, executive director of the Vidalia, Ga.-based VOC reports the number of Facebook fans increased by the hundreds every few minutes, eventually finishing at over 10,000 by the end of the day. Fans printed almost 50,000 Vidalia coupons, with 26 percent redeemed. “Seeing that much interest was so exciting it made you feel like a kid,” said Brannen, “but I also kept seeing the coupon redemption costs associated with every new fan ringing up like the slots in Vegas!”

In 2011, during year one of its promotional partnership with Universal, the Vidalia Onion Committee held a national Vidalia Onion Jingle Contest, with over 60 entries from all over the U.S. and more than 136,000 visitors to the Vidalia onion website casting votes. All the entries can still be heard and enjoyed today on Vidalia's official website.

The Vidalia Onion Committee administers FMO No. 955 and authorizes production research, marketing research and development, and marketing promotion programs.