Do State Promotional Programs Actually Get Consumers to Buy?

More great research from the Penn State consumer purchasing behaviors study I talked about in multiple past posts. Mid-Atlantic consumers were surveyed on what factors may have affected their purchasing behaviors. One factor that may affect purchasing is state promotional plan branding. (The overall goals of these programs are to identify and promote the sale of fruits and vegetables and produce-based products within the corresponding state of the program. The programs featured in the survey included PA Preferred, Pride of NY, So Maryland, So Good, New Jersey Fresh, and Virginia Grown.)

Figure 1.


Figure 2.


Overall, only 20% of survey participants indicated that they were aware that their state of residence had a promotional program. However, of those 62.8% (or 12.5% of all respondents) indicated that they had intentionally purchased fresh produce items that were branded according to their state’s promotional program. Figures 1 and 2 (above) show participant response to state program awareness and corresponding fresh produce purchasing behavior according to participant state of residence. Concerning state promotional program awareness, a significantly lower percentage of Maryland residents indicated that there were aware of their state promotional program compared to residents of all other states, while a significantly higher percentage of New Jersey residents indicated awareness of their state’s promotional program compared to residents of all other states (Figure 1).

Concerning the percentage of “state brand aware” participants who purchased produce banded under the guise of that state’s promotional program, a significantly higher percentage of New Jersey residents indicated they purchased these items compared to New York and Virginia residents, as well as a significantly higher percentage of Pennsylvania residents indicated they purchased these items compared to New York residents (Figure 2).

To read more about this study, please read the press release.

As an ag entrepreneur, are your products marked with your state's promotional brand? As a consumer, do you seek out products with your state's promotional brand?