Promotion

Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. Reaches One Billion Customers

Over the past year, Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. has used social media and digital advertising to tell a multi-faceted story about beef, from its unbeatable taste, variety and nutritional strength to the people and production processes behind it. This year, the “always-on” digital advertising reached more than 1.1 billion consumers. What’s more important is that checkoff-funded research from the Consumer Beef Tracker shows that when people are aware of the Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. brand, they are more likely to eat beef more often, and they are also more likely to feel good about beef— directly providing a strong return on investment for beef producers.

Activating an Army of Health Professionals

In 2019, the Beef Checkoff shifted an important influencer audience – once believed to be a barrier to processed beef – into an army of advocates for prepared beef. NAMI proactively sponsored multiple rounds of television talk-show segments—totaling almost 30 segments in markets across the country—highlighting Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs). Each RDN used approved messages to provide information about the nutritional benefits and great taste of prepared beef products, as well as permission to enjoy them. They also showed viewers creative and delicious ways to savor these products, including creating their own Beefshi recipes. Similarly, NAMI worked directly with 20 of the top nutrition bloggers in the country to develop original content, including recipe ideas and beautiful photos, using these same messages.

ChuckKnowsBeef.com Gets a New Look

The Beef Checkoff first introduced Chuck Knows Beef, the all-knowing virtual beef assistant, in FY19. To help increase engagement and time spent with Chuck, the website was updated so users can easily navigate the platform and find inspiration or tips for their next beef meal. This new user experience does not change previous functions audiences have come to love or the brand’s overall personality, but instead offers users an easier way of navigating and finding beefy information through their desktop and mobile interactions. Note, users are still able ask direct questions through Amazon Alexa or Google Home if they already know exactly what they’re looking for.

Veal Grabs National Exposure

The Beef Checkoff funded a veal-promotions program that received national exposure through a partnership with Family Features, a print and digital syndication network. Positive veal stories were written and included delicious and nutritious veal recipes.

Veal Distributor Salse Incentive Contest

Funded by the Beef Checkoff, the veal-promotions program partnered with a packer/processor and a national foodservice distributor to create a sales-incentive contest. The contest was designed to educate the distributor’s sales force and restaurants about the positive attributes of veal and drive veal sales and demand.

Transforming Negative Positioning of Processed Beef

In 2019, the Beef Checkoff conducted primary research with 2,000 American consumers—including more than 1,000 millennials—to identify perceptions of and barriers to processed beef consumption. The results of this research showed that the beef industry needs to approach this food category differently. Results confirmed the terms “prepared” and “processed” may be synonyms in the dictionary and food industry, but Americans don’t perceive them that way. To consumers, ‘prepared’ sounds healthier. By every measure, consumers see prepared meats in a more favorable light than processed meats. NAMI presented this research and proposed new positioning to more than 50 diverse retailers in July 2019. Those retailers found the new positioning so intriguing that they invited NAMI to present it again to the Food Marketing Institute’s Fresh Executive Committee in January 2020. This new approach has the potential to revolutionize the marketing and merchandising of processed meats.