Oregon Beef Council Report

Promoting Beef in Challenging Times

by the Oregon Beef Council Executive Officer Will Wise

As a state beef council executive, I have the privilege of joining some national calls on beef promotion. In the times we have experienced, it was interesting this month to hear about all that is going on. I continue to be properly impressed by the NCBA staff and their work in promoting of beef with consumers. So, I thought I would write about just a few of the items discussed on the call I had with them today.

One metric that measures beef consumption, called the Consumer Beef Tracker, shows a percentage of consumers with at least one weekly consumption (purchase) of beef

product. That number for April was 76 percent. Going back to April 2019, that number was 69 percent. To me, this shows that with all the market dynamics, there are some trend lines going in the right direction.

It is grilling season. And the marketing focus on grilling is important for beef demand. Recent research shows consumers grilling 6.75 times per month and 75 percent fully say they will grill the same or more this year. Consumers want to grill, and they want to grill beef.

At the same time, promotion in these times needs to be sensitive to market and overall conditions and sentiments. That is why a phased roll out for summer grilling promotions is underway. In consumer surveys about the ideal grilling experience, here are a few comments:

Clearly, grilling is “It would be at a park and an important item to consumers. And my family would be there not everything, all and we would make hot the time anyway, is dogs and ribs.” beef related in their “Private outdoors. All our responses. But I like this kind of market favorite food. Friends and research. It shows family.” we have something “Juist me and my family to offer in a positive area within our making hamburgers with target demographic. cheese and chips.” Verbatim mentions, “I would grill a steak, or topics specifically mentioned by sausage, fries, and my those surveyed, in family would be there with order were family (28 me and we would have a percent), burgers (18 great time.” percent), steaks (16 percent), chicken (12 percent), friends (11 percent), brats and sausages (7 percent), ribs (3 percent), pork (3 percent), fun (2 percent), and summer (1 percent). Isn’t that an interesting list? We rank high in consumers’ minds when it comes to the important marketing opportunity that we see in the summer grilling season, and there are lots of grilling promotions in the pipeline. I hope we see some excellent numbers as they come in.

In June, a new promotion will begin called, “United We Steak” and it is combined with the BIWFD (Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner) tagline. It also uses some of the soundtrack that may pop into your head that has been used for BIWFD ads for years. It is from American composer Aaron Copeland, written in 1942, and is called “Rodeo.” The “United We Steak” promotion features steak recipes and graphics for each state, and the graphics are great, and we’ll use the one from Oregon for sure. I also like the BIWFD leveraging. 88 percent of Americans know the BIWFD tag line. That is a huge number in a crowded marketing world. In my opinion, the new “United We Steak” promotion takes this to the next level. “Let Freedom Sizzle” is one of the taglines!

There were many other items discussed and the webinar took over an hour and a half. There are other excellent promotional efforts underway in my opinion. The “Team Beef” promotions, using athletes doing 10Ks and marathons, and cycling events has now turned virtual so individuals are still able to live a beef supported, active lifestyle during these restricted times. Team Beef promotions this year led to over 12,732 miles of running and cycling by athletes wearing Team Beef jerseys and promoting beef in a healthy lifestyle. I am doing my part and will proudly wear my Team Beef Oregon cycling jersey in the Reach the Beach event again this year. It has been postponed until October. I guess that just gives me more time to prepare. •