1999 News Archive
NEW ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN TARGETS HEALTH PROFESSIONALS
CHICAGO (December 22, 1999) – New advertising in health professional journals and magazines is providing an influential audience with information about the nutritional value of beef. The checkoff-funded ad highlights beef's "nutrient bundle" of protein, zinc, iron and B-vitamins, and is designed to build support for beef as a solution for busy moms who need key nutrients to help them get through the day.
The "Everyday Hero" print campaign launched in December and will run through February in publications like Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Clinician Reviews, Journal of the American Medical Association, Medical Economics, PostGraduate Medicine and others. The ad is expected to reach 80 percent of primary care physicians, 68 percent of obstetricians, 60 percent of nurse practitioners and physicians and almost 100 percent of registered dietitians at least three times.
"These health professionals are a key conduit to the industry's target audience, which is moms ages 25-54," according to Dee Lacey, a beef producer from Paso Robles, Calif., and chair of the industry's Health Professional Influencers Subcommittee. "This ad campaign is just one aspect of our program to assure that these experts have the right information about beef when they visit with their patients or clients."
The ad notes that three ounces of beef provides 50 percent of the protein, 14 percent of the iron, 39 percent of the zinc and 37 percent of the vitamin B-12 needed to meet recommended Daily Values for females. It also highlights a checkoff-funded study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine that demonstrated that lean red meat is similar to lean white meat when it comes to lowering serum cholesterol. Readers are encouraged to go to the www.beefnutrition.org web site for a reprint of that report and free patient education material.
Lacey says the ad campaign is one aspect of a program that reaches health professionals throughout the year. Other efforts include an outreach effort that begins at the ADA Annual Meeting and Exhibition, attended by more than 10,000 dietitians. Sponsorships of meals and educational sessions at the event provide excellent opportunities to establish contacts and increase awareness of beef's importance in healthy diets.
Among the efforts this past year was creation of an all-woman advisory board to offer guidance and help ensure industry communication efforts reflect sound thinking. The Council for Women's Nutrition Solutions is comprised of 11 highly respected professionals in caradiovascular health, fitness, iron, zinc, obesity/weight loss, stress/mental health, obstetrics, child/teen health, cancer/diseases, nutrition communications and other key health disciplines.
"Through their beef checkoff, producers are aggressively working to see that facts about beef's nutritional benefits are communicated to people who deal with health issues on a daily basis," according to Lacey. "As a result, the messages we're delivering become more credible and reach a much larger audience."