Checkoff-Funded Programs Earn Advertising, Marketing Awards

DENVER (May 3, 2004) –- Several advertising, marketing and informational programs for beef have been recognized nationally for their effectiveness.  These programs are funded by America’s beef producers through the Beef Checkoff Program, which is administered by the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board.

The checkoff-funded “Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner®” beef enjoyment campaign has been awarded an EFFIE, one of the advertising industry’s most coveted and prestigious national awards.   The award is presented annually by the New York American Marketing Association in recognition of the year's most effective advertising campaigns - campaigns that have delivered superior results in meeting the objectives they were designed to achieve.  This is the second year in a row the program has won the award.

“Competing with huge corporations and having a limited budget, we have to feel pretty good about the direction we’ve chosen for checkoff advertising,” says Nelson Curry of Kentucky, chairman of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board.  “As producers we sometimes lose sight of how national advertising helps us back on our operations.  But this kind of award really makes me feel good about my investment in the checkoff program.”

The “Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner” advertising campaign was managed for the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and state beef councils by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and created by the advertising agency Leo Burnett.   Several hundred advertising campaigns were evaluated nationwide for this year’s EFFIEs.  Other winners included Pepsi, IBM and Kellogg.  The EFFIE is the only national award to recognize creative achievement in meeting and exceeding advertising objectives.

The “Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner” enjoyment advertising campaign was also honored recently with the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) Award of Excellence for Corporate Marketing Campaign of the Year.  The IACP presents the awards annually to honor members whose achievements and pursuit of excellence embody the highest standards of the association.  

Marketing Programs Honored

Several other checkoff-funded programs were honored during The Best of NAMA Awards, presented by the National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA). The awards honor the best work in agricultural communications, with 2004 winners announced at the Agri-Marketing Conference and Trade Show on April 14 in Kansas City, Mo.

The award for best of show in public relations was awarded to a campaign called “Cool-2B-Real Beef Checkoff Youth Campaign,”  which focused on girls 8-12 years-old and positioned beef as a food that fits into a healthful diet.  The program was conducted for the Beef Board by NCBA and SR Brown Communications.

“The Cool-2B-Real Campaign evolved from an extensive research process,” said Gary Sharp, a beef and dairy producer from Bath, S.D., and chairman of the Joint Education and Information Subcommittee. “We wanted to create an outreach program that would successfully help girls make healthy food choices.”

CBB and NCBA captured several other NAMA awards, including a regional award for the Beef Checkoff Integrated Nutrition Advertising Public Relations Campaign, a merit award in public affairs/issues management for the crisis communications work done in response to the Canadian BSE crisis, and a regional award on behalf of the Beef Business Foodservice Symposium.  A regional award for internal company publications for the association’s “Issues Updates” was also presented.

Best of NAMA operates on a regional judging format, with entries sent to the national NAMA office and judged by industry professionals at a regional level for possible advancement to national competition. Overall, there were over 1,230 entries and awards were presented in 71 categories. Three best of show awards are awarded in the advertising, public relations and specialty areas each year.

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