Marketing Efforts Target Moms with Convenience, Nutrition Messages
NEW YORK, NY (November 2) – Beef industry officials today released a business plan for the coming year that aims to boost demand by positioning beef as a convenient meal solution containing nutrients often lacking from the American diet.
Responding to a commissioned study on the issues most likely to increase consumer demand for beef, beef producers have embarked on a $30 million marketing effort built around convenience and nutrition. According to Chuck Schroeder, CEO of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), this dual-driver strategy is focused on improving the perceptions of beef with today’s mom – the primary shopper and keeper of the family meal.
“Today’s busy mom needs two things from us: products that fit her hectic lifestyle and products she can feel good about eating and serving to her family,” Schroeder explained.
The industry’s marketing strategy will help deliver on these needs through retail and foodservice marketing, health professional partnerships, advertising and public relations.
The beef industry has already seen success on the convenience side. In the past 12 months, it has built a portfolio of resources to help fuel consumer demand for easy beef products.
Through its new product development efforts, the beef industry continues to work with multiple manufacturers to introduce new, value-added beef products into the marketplace. Partnerships with the nation’s top supermarket chains are making beef easier to shop for and prepare. And, leading restaurant chains are helping to keep beef America’s number-one selling protein by continuing to fuel the steakhouse trend and adding innovative beef items to their menus.
Overcoming functional barriers to increased beef demand is the first step, Schroeder said. Breaking down perceptual barriers about beef’s nutritional profile is the next.
“Touting the convenient aspects of beef while lingering doubts about nutrition still exist will not increase beef demand. We must consistently deliver reassuring news on both fronts,” he added.
News on beef’s nutritional benefits has been nothing but positive of late, said Schroeder. Beef is one of the most nutrient-dense proteins, providing high concentrations of key nutrients such as zinc, iron, protein and B vitamins. A three-ounce serving of beef contributes less than 10 percent of calories to a 2,000-calorie diet, yet it supplies more than 10 percent of the Daily Value for zinc, iron, protein, niacin, B6 and B12.1
Ten years of research also confirms lean beef is interchangeable with lean chicken and fish in a cholesterol-lowering diet. Results from the most recent study were published in the June 28, 1999, issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, which shows lean red and white meat positively impact total blood cholesterol as part of a National Cholesterol Education Program Step I diet. Combined, these favorable changes in blood cholesterol levels amounted to approximately a 10 percent reduction in coronary heart disease.
Emerging research suggests beef has benefits beyond basic nutrition. CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acid), a fatty acid naturally found in beef, has shown promise in inhibiting breast and colon cancer tumor growth, preventing heart disease and diabetes, and increasing lean body mass in animal studies. If what has been shown to be true in animals proves to be true in humans, lean beef may have potential health benefits when consumed as part of a varied diet, on a regular basis, at effective levels. In its position paper on functional foods, The American Dietetic Association included beef in its list of foods with functional properties because of CLA.
Schroeder is confident the entire beef supply chain will benefit from a stronger, more integrated focus on convenience and nutrition. “We are now approaching beef not as a commodity but as a branded product. We will continue working with manufacturers, retailers and foodservice operators to increase brand awareness and penetration as well as build equity with consumers,” Schroeder added.
Beef industry marketing efforts are funded by beef producers through their $1-per-head checkoff program and are managed for the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and state beef councils by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. The national beef checkoff is administered by the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board. This 111-member board is appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture to oversee the collection of the $1-per-head checkoff, certify state beef councils, implement the provisions of the Federal Order establishing the checkoff and evaluate the effectiveness of checkoff programs.
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association is the trade association of America’s cattle farmers and ranchers, and the marketing organization for the largest segment of the nation’s food and fiber industry. NCBA is producer-directed but consumer focused, with offices in Denver, Chicago and Washington, D.C.
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