HOLIDAY CAMPAIGN RESULTS SHOW BEEF CONTINUES TO BE THE CENTER OF CELEBRATION

by California Beef Council Manager of Producer Relations Makenzie Neves

If the holiday meal should be a show-stopper, then the holiday campaign to drive beef demand should be just as memorable.

For 2022, the California Beef Council (CBC) worked with Hearst Television and The StoryStudio to create four digital native content stories that combined the lush graphics of high-end magazine design with Hearst’s digital capabilities to produce content that was engaging, interactive, reached our core target audience and, most importantly, drove demand for Beef during the holidays. From Nov. 1, 2022 through Dec. 28, 2022, we targeted adults ages 25 to 49 living in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco, Sacramento, Oakland/Hayward, Fremont, San Bernardino, Fresno, Bakersfield, Stockton/Modesto, Concord/Walnut Creek, Chico/Redding, Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Monterey/Salinas, Ventura, Long Beach, Anaheim, Santa Ana, Riverside, Irvine, Chula Vista, Moreno Valley and Fontana.

The campaign consisted of four original, engaging articles on a crosssection of topics. Although one gender tracked higher in each story, all stories appealed strongly to both men and women:

• “Elevating the Kids’ Table” featured a fun array of appetizers that would be appealing to kids, and proved most popular with women ages 34 to 44.

“Ultimate Holiday Guide: A Rib Roast to Remember” featured popular food blogger Whitney Bond and walked readers through the preparation of a show-stopping, bone-in rib roast. This story resonated most with men ages 25 to 44.

• “Smoking in Action” used a quiz format that took readers to different results depending on how they answered questions about what cut of beef they’d choose, what kind of flavors and spices they like, how much time they have, and whether they prefer the classics or “dare to be different.” Results yielded a specific wood to use for smoking and a recipe that fit their quiz profile. Not surprisingly, this story appealed most to men ages 18 to 54.

• “An Inside Look at 21st Century Ranching” featured two California ranchers and took readers to the ranch to hear about how cattle are raised in California today. This piece saw the greatest reach and engagement with men ages 25 to 44.

Each story had a call-to-action (CTA) to encourage consumers to shop for Beef and earn $3 cash-back on a $15 or more beef purchase through the popular shopping app Checkout 51 or online. Over 19,500 California consumers added beef to their shopping list within the app over the campaign period. Of those, nearly 5,800 of them purchased beef, generating over $85,200 in beef sales at California retailers.

The four stories ultimately garnered 91,200 engagements and 22.6 million impressions for the entire campaign, and surpassed our target campaign goals by 42 percent for engagements and 182 percent for impressions. The stories were promoted across key websites of interest to our target audiences including: LA Times, Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, Martha Stewart, SFGate, Variety, Southern Living and many others.