Beef Sustainability Campaign Reaches 96 Million Consumers
A Beef Checkoff-funded campaign, “Rethink the Ranch,” executed by Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner., introduced the public to beef producers who make science-driven decisions to keep their herds, environment and businesses healthy enough to pass on to the next generation. This campaign increased consumer confidence in beef and beef production by inviting consumers to learn more about how beef producers care for the land, their animals and their local communities.
Market Research
The Beef Checkoff conducted extensive market research in the spring of 2021 to fully understand consumer perceptions around how beef producers care for the land and what key topics would resonate most with that audience. Here are some of the key learnings from that research:
- Roughly half of consumers say they care about beef’s impact on the land and environment or change their behaviors to encourage it. However, factors like taste, safety, appearance and price are still more important considerations when making a meal choice.
- Almost half of consumers already have a positive perception of beef production. However, the beef industry is still perceived as less sustainable than other food industries.
- Animal welfare, by far, was the most important topic to address with consumers when it comes to beef and how cattle are raised.
Getting the Word Out
This campaign came to life across YouTube, social media platforms, influencer efforts, radio, ConnectTV and more. Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. developed and disseminated a variety of content, showing the dedication of beef producers to a vital and reliable industry, including:
- A “Rethink the Ranch” hub web page featured an interactive map of all 50 U.S. states, each complete with state-specific beef production stories told through the lens of beef families.
- Videos advertised on YouTube and ConnectTV – What Goes Around, Better Than Ever, We See Beef, A Prosperous Future for Everyone.
- Educational digital and radio ads on how beef producers implement land-saving, wildlife-preserving and award-winning environmental efforts hit social media and the web. Advertising also ran across ESPN Networks (ESPN2, SEC and ESPNU) as well as on Spotify and Sirius XM.
These efforts actively engaged consumers by providing in-depth content and rancher stories. Here’s how these efforts performed:
- Reach (total number of people who have seen this content): 96,936,509
- Total Video Views: 59,968,934
- Total Social Media Engagements (comments, reactions and shares): 66,802
- Total BIWFD.com Pageviews: 80,342
- Audio Ad Listens: 15,836,118
Future Plans
Building off last year’s success, a second campaign titled “Raised & Grown” launched on March 21 and will run until the end of May. This campaign aims to increase awareness of how beef is raised safely, humanely and sustainably by spotlighting beef farmers and ranchers from across the U.S., including Environmental Stewardship Award Program ESAP recipients and Beef Quality Assurance award winners.
To learn more about how Beef . It’s What’s For Dinner. is working to communicate responsible beef production practices, visit https://www.beefitswhatsfordinner.com/raising-beef
The Beef Checkoff program was established as part of the 1985 Farm Bill. The checkoff assesses $1 per head on the sale of live domestic and imported cattle, in addition to a comparable assessment on imported beef and beef products. States may retain up to 50 cents on the dollar and forward the other 50 cents per head to the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board, which administers the national checkoff program, subject to USDA approval.
