NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
UNITED WE STEAK by NCBA Chief Executive Officer Colin Woodall While Labor Day may be approaching faster than any of us are prepared for, it is important we remember that one-third of summer grilling season still remains. “United We Steak” is the cornerstone of the checkoff-funded summer grilling promotion NCBA manages, and we are thrilled with the results. If you haven’t seen NCBA’s latest checkoff-funded campaign, head on over to www.unitedwesteak.com to check it out. The first thing you’ll see is a map of the United States where each state is cut out of steak. That isn’t a computer-generated image, but rather the result of diligent work by the NCBA team to hand-cut each of those steaks. Have you ever tried to cut the shape of Maryland out of a steak? Not an easy task, but it shows the innovative spirit of this campaign. United We Steak is more than just a unique graphic designed to get your attention. It’s meant to be a multipronged approach that draws our customers to the recipes and producer stories, and then leaves them with a passion to fire up their grills. The roll out of United We Steak included a satellite media tour where NCBA’s very own meat scientist Bridget Wasser started at 3:00 a.m. doing live interviews from the NCBA Culinary Center, funded by the Beef Checkoff, with media outlets across the country. We also put the steak map on one of the larger-than-life billboards in Times Square in New York City. We truly took this launch prime time. The campaign was also rolled out to key food bloggers, chefs, retailers and foodservice operators to help them support and promote beef. If you haven’t seen the campaign yet, don’t worry because it is headed your way. It’s another in the long line of Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. promotions from NCBA. Yep, you read that right, from NCBA, which is home to the Federation of State Beef Councils. The councils were critical partners in this campaign. Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. is the beef brand we manage as a contractor to the Beef Checkoff. This checkoff-funded tagline is inarguably one of the most successful marketing efforts in history because of its uncanny ability to take sizzling images of beef, combine them with Aaron Copland’s “Hoedown” music, and instantly make mouths water. It’s also a brand that must evolve to stay relevant. Now, I’m personally partial to the television ads from the early 90s voiced by Robert Mitchum. To me, that will always be Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. As a society, though, we aren’t 20 California Cattleman September 2020
sitting around the TV on Sunday nights waiting for Mitchum’s iconic voice. The way Americans watch TV these days is much different. Fewer and fewer people are watching live TV. Many use a digital video recorder so they can watch at their convenience and fastforward through the commercials. Digital TV platforms are growing in popularity and that is why we have evolved our promotional campaigns to take advantage of today’s technology. The video of sizzling steaks is still there. The “Hoedown” music is still there. The distinctive voice is still there. Just the format has changed. We will continue to look at ways to keep Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. famous and relevant to the times. While NCBA may be the creativity behind these campaigns, we can only do it because of the checkoff financial investment. We have to earn the checkoff dollars we use. Contrary to the belief of some, these dollars are not “given” to us. The Beef Promotion Operating Committee is made up of cattle producers who decide which programs presented by contractors get funded. It is then up to us to deliver on our commitment, or we don’t get reimbursed, and we don’t get funded again. Most producers don’t appreciate that we do this work on a cost recovery basis. In short, we only get paid AFTER we’ve made the investment and done the work. If the work doesn’t pass muster from the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, we’re on the hook for the costs. That is a measure of accountability that few appreciate. We must defend our use of checkoff investments at multiple levels, and we are happy to do it because we have nothing to hide. On their first day at NCBA, each employee is schooled on compliance to the rules we must follow as a contractor, and that focus on compliance is a constant part of our work. In my role, I will not compromise the integrity of NCBA or the integrity of the checkoff. The work is too important, and your trust in us is at the heart of all we do. Let me be clear: checkoff money does not pay for any of our policy efforts…period. So, share your support of the checkoff with your friends, neighbors, and fellow cattle producers because…United We Steak!
