COUNCIL COMMUNICATOR CHECKING IN ON YOUR BEEF CHECKOFF POSITIVE YEAR AMID TOUGH CIRCUMSTANCES by Jesse Larios, 2020 Chair of the California Beef Council When I began my term as chair of the California Beef Council at the beginning of the year, there was a lot of optimism and excitement for the plans we had in place for 2020. We had multiple events planned to showcase the beef industry and share the production story with key influencers and audiences, campaigns to promote and tie-in the beef eating experience with key holidays and events throughout the year, in-person producer education events and presentations to share our efforts with the producer community and so much more. And then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and it was back to the drawing board in many ways. Like every other organization in this unprecedented time, we had to teach ourselves to adapt in a unique situation. Staff began working remotely, events got cancelled left and right and the dynamic shifted for our previously planned campaigns. There was no blue print for how to navigate this new chapter, but we pivoted and met the challenge. Early on, we quickly shifted our consumer approach to reach our audiences with messages reassuring them about beef supply as grocery store shelves were cleared and fear over availability of key food items ensued. With a deep set of resources covering all things beef – from preparing and cooking, to understanding nutrition, to classroom lesson plans about beef and cattle – the CBC was also able to provide consumers with helpful tools to navigate a return to the kitchen for many home cooks, and a rapid turn to educating school children at home. Our website home page became a hub for these items and more, and a digital campaign promoting these resources was deployed within days of the pandemic taking hold. In my time serving on the California Beef Council, I
have seen significant shifts in how and where we get our message across, making sure we’re meeting the consumer where they are with messages that resonate, and in a fiscally responsible manner. Because many of our campaigns have shifted to more of a digital and targeted approach in recent years, including the use of geo-fencing technology to target our ads to very specific areas, the CBC team was able to work quickly and deftly to deploy this digital campaign at almost a moment’s notice. During the spring of 2020, I was impressed with how the CBC staff was able to turn on a dime to shift strategy and focus and still resonate with our consumers based on what was going on in the world at the time. The behindthe-scenes work done to ensure our industry not only continued to be represented in a positive light, but to also serve as a resource in a difficult time to the people who buy our product is something we should all be proud of as checkoff investors. A previously scheduled spring campaign centered around the Cinco de Mayo holiday was cancelled once we realized the full impact of the pandemic and current consumer sentiment. But that didn’t mean our efforts ended there. In early summer, we joined with the national Beef Checkoff program to launch the “United We Steak” campaign – a broad, multi-faceted effort to unite Americans and consumers around the shared experience of grilling steaks, as well as highlight California producers and the beef supply chain. From there, we launched a second campaign as a very non-traditional football season started. Originally planned to focus on the experience of tailgating, our campaign shifted to focus on the “home-gating” experience and enjoying the big games at home. Combined, these campaigns reached and engaged tens of millions of California consumers, and both provided cash-back rebate offers on beef during a time when many were struggling economically. In a year of trepidation and difficulty, the CBC was also able to move forward on other key ...CONTINUED ON PAGE 20
18 California Cattleman December 2020
