2015 marks the second year since the beef checkoff’s “Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner.” brand made the shift from traditional advertising to an all-digital approach, using an integrated digital media plan to reach consumers in a new and highly engaging way.
“The checkoff’s advertising efforts are instrumental in helping to educate millions of Americans on beef’s superior taste, nutritional package, ease-of-use and versatility by providing them with the beef-related information they need, when they need it,” says Terri Carstensen, Chair of the Domestic Consumer Preference committee, and beef producer from Odebolt, Iowa. “Through the checkoff’s digital advertising campaigns, consumers are equipped with the beef tips, techniques and recipes they need to ensure a great beef eating experience, each and every time.”
The success of the checkoff’s advertising program is the result of a three-pronged approach to digital:
- Surface the information consumers are looking for, when they’re looking for it through a variety of online advertising tools, such as search, social and banner advertising;
- Delight consumers with educational and entertaining content, including engaging and inspiring videos and recipes;
- Make a positive difference in the way consumers feel about beef by showing how easy and versatile beef can be for any day of the week.
While the “Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner.” brand uses advertising strategies like search and social advertising throughout the entire year, the major advertising push is centered around the critical grilling season, which runs May through September. And according to the checkoff-funded Google Consumer Survey conducted in May 2015, nearly half (46.3 percent) of consumers are excited about serving beef this summer grilling season – which is nearly double that of any other protein. Additionally, 42 percent of consumers say they are likely to grill beef burgers (61.4 percent) and steaks (45 percent) over other proteins like chicken and pork.
This summer, “Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner.” will take advantage of its robust digital toolbox (and America’s love of beef) to reach consumers in a variety of ways, across different platforms:
- Website: BeefItsWhatsForDinner.com serves as the go-to resource for recipes and meal inspirations, cooking tips and techniques, and nutrition information. Additionally, a new landing page supporting the grilling season campaign will be launched, showcasing how beef can help families live a flavorful life. Search, banner and social media advertising will help support the website and the new landing page, directing consumers to useful content and driving traffic throughout the campaign.
- New videos: Three new “No-Recipe Recipe” advertising videos are being created to inspire new meal ideas and cooking techniques, while showing how beef can help bring a delicious and nutritious meal to life. These videos will be available on the “Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner.” YouTube channel at the launch of the campaign.
- Social, Banners, Search Advertising: These media components will be used throughout the summer campaign and the rest of 2015 to drive traffic to BeefItsWhatsForDinner.com and various content assets throughout the year, such a recipes collections, videos and the grilling season landing page. Additionally, website partnerships with major media outlets like Meredith Digital and Scripps will give the Beef Checkoff-funded “Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner” brand the opportunity to integrate recipes on sites like FoodNetwork.com and AllRecipes.com.
- Protein Challenge: The Protein Challenge—launched in April 2015—has already generated more than 137,000 page visits on BeefItsWhatsForDinner.com, making it the most popular page on the website. Search and Facebook advertising efforts have motivated more than 10,500 consumers to subscribe to the daily Protein Challenge emails.
Already, the digital advertising efforts are surpassing 2014 with a nearly 700% increase in the acquisition rate of new Facebook fans and 272% increase in total website visits. With results like that, the Beef Checkoff is confident that this grilling season campaign will generate even bigger results for the beef industry in 2015.
For delicious triple-tested beef recipes, nutrition information and to learn more about the "Beef. It's What's For Dinner." advertising campaign, please visit BeefItsWhatsForDinner.com.
For more information about your beef checkoff investment, visit MyBeefCheckoff.com.
UNDERSTANDING THE BEEF CHECKOFF PROGRAM
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.
Source: The Beef Checkoff Program
