September 2009 Industry News

The Examiner online highlighted mushrooms in the article “Edible Fungi – For the love of mushrooms.” The article outlined 10 types of mushrooms and included preparation tips, nutritional information and recipes. This placement garnered nearly 5.3 million impressions. Click here

SHIPMENT SUMMARY

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

Current Charts	June-09	June-08	% change	YTD 09	YTD 08	% change
Total Shipments	60.79	61.48	-1.12	358.96	378.52	-5.17
Domestic Shipments	53.36	54.98	-2.94	315.81	336.23	-6.07
PA	30.44	30.55	-0.35	186.94	192.98	-3.13
CA	9.83	10.52	-6.50	56.97	63.42	-10.16
Rest of US	13.09	13.92	-5.96	71.90	79.84	-9.95
Imports	7.43	6.50	14.27	43.15	42.29	2.03

COUNCIL UPDATE

The City of Hope Pink Promotion is underway. The promotion runs from mid-September through mid-November.

New Postings to www.mushroomcouncil.org:

MARKETING SUMMARY

TOTAL IMPRESSIONS/PLACEMENTS TO DATE:
August impressions overview:

Program	August 2009 Impressions	% of August 2008 Impressions	Total Year Impressions to Date*	% of Annual Goal
Consumer/Nutrition	39,520,868	26%	635,450,174	127%
Foodservice	723,037	138%	6,289,918	199%
Retail	234,196	26%	1,304,105	92%

In August, the Mushroom Council had an average of 51 percent share of voice. While conducting proactive media outreach, we generally expect Mushroom Council coverage to represent between 33-75 percent 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.

Mushroom Share of Voice

Week Ending	Mushroom Council Generated Placements	% of Total Mushroom Coverage	Type of Outreach
August 1	7	88 percent	Proactive
August 8	2	40 percent	Proactive
August 15	5	56 percent	Proactive
August 22	7	47 percent	Proactive
August 31	1	17 percent	Proactive
Total	22	51 percent	Proactive

New Tools/Resources:

MushroomCouncil.org has been updated to provide you with all the necessary materials to create your own kits by compiling Mushroom Council resources. Visit the Retail Sales Tools section to find the full Pink Promotion Tool Kit.

The Press section of MushroomInfo.com has been updated to provide background to interested media on the Council’s pink promotion. Feel free to direct your own media contacts to this section of the site for more information.

Mushrooms in the News:

Q3 mushroom recipes include the Mini Mushroom Quiche Caps and Portabella Eggs Benedict. To date, the recipes have garnered nearly 3.5 million impressions combined.

An August preview edition of Consumer Reports on Health highlighted the antioxidant properties of mushrooms in the side bar “To help fight cancer…add mushrooms to your diet.” It noted that mushrooms rank with more well-known sources of antioxidants, such as broccoli. This placement resulted in 1 million impressions.

Mushrooms’ antioxidant properties were highlighted in six placements this month, including Detroit Free Press, Examiner.com and Consumer Reports on Health. To date, in 2009, antioxidant placements have resulted in nearly than 100 million impressions.

Mushroom Council placements represented an average of 51 percent of total mushroom news, which is within the norm of 33 to 75 percent during a period of proactive outreach. To view all August placements, click here.

U.S. News and World Report highlighted mushrooms on the health section of their Web site as a meat replacement in vegetarian diets in the article “Vegetarian? 6 Tips for a Healthy Vegetarian Diet.” The site noted that mushrooms provide a savory flavor similar to meat. This placement garnered more than 550,000 impressions.

On the Retail Front:

The Council prepared to go Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October and developed an industry press release template, national release to share with trade publications, POS materials and a circular advertisement. All of these tools can be found here.

Mushrooms were featured in the annual mushroom marketing sections for The Packer and The Produce News including features on their strong sales despite the economy and the pink till promotion. This placement resulted in a total of 74,496 impressions.

Producing Merchandising featured the value, nutrition and convenience of mushrooms in their August issue resulting in 35,778 impressions. To view the full article click here.

Mushrooms were featured in Produce Business’ “Making the Most Out of Mushrooms” article. This placement featured mushrooms as a reliable value generator for the produce department and resulted in a total of 44,670 impressions. To view this article, click here.

On the Foodservice Front:

In August, foodservice media outreach resulted in a National Culinary Review article about umami prominently featuring Mushroom Council recipes, photos, chef interviews and research from the Council’s Umami White Paper. Other August placements continued to keep mushrooms in seafood, salad and soup stories.

The Mushroom Council spent August gearing up for a number of fall events. The Council met with the Culinary Institute of America and coordinated a sponsorship at the culinary school’s annual World of Flavor’s conference this fall in partnership with Colavita Olive Oil. In addition, the Council coordinated logistical details to participate in October’s International Food Editor’s Conference and second chef-distributor event in Southern California.

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

On the Social Media Front:

In August, MushroomInfo.com and TheMushroomChannel.com experienced 12,480 unique visitors combined, a nine percent increase over last month’s unique visitors.

The Council continues to see traffic spikes on days when contributing bloggers post on the Channel but we’re also seeing the benefits of even brief mentions on contributor’s blogs. For example, the Channel saw one of its highest peaks in August when Eat Live Run’s Jenna mentioned she had a mushroom recipe to develop and linked to us. These long-term partnerships with a variety of popular bloggers continue to be fruitful for traffic and building our readership base.

The Council has 917 total Twitter and Facebook followers to date. Obtaining these followers has resulted in 249,338 online exposures. (Note, this number reflects the total number of Twitter members from January-present who have seen Mushroom Council content, which includes Mushroom Council followers and non-Mushroom Council followers).

Notable Twitter quotes in August: