INFLUENCING AUDIENCE Checkoff engagement with key consumers By Utah Beef Council Director of Marketing Jacob Schmidt, RDN The checkoff has conducted extensive market research that led us to identify consumers born between 1980 and 2000 as our target audience for consumer marketing. This group is labeled “Older Millennial Parents.” Additional research has shown the best way to reach them in larger population areas is through social media channels. The Millennial generation makes up about a fourth of all Americans and about a third of all adults. A remarkable change has been made over the last several years in moving Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. advertising to the digital arena. Millennials are much more attached to electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets, computers, and consoles. Advertising digitally allows the checkoff to target consumers very specifically. This type of advertising allows selectivity on which consumers receive the Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. message. We can home in on an audience that has food likes and lifestyles that fit the checkoff message. For example, a young mother visits the grocery store and uses her smartphone to price check items in her cart as she shops. The geographic sensors in her phone “ping” her location. When she returns home the geo-tracking in her device then serves up Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. ads on every connected device on her server such as streaming television, laptops, email, online shopping, Pandora radio, etc. It is this specific targeting that helps promotional dollars stretch farther than in the past. This approach allows us to craft valuable and farreaching promotions and marketing programs that can
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reach our key audience in multiple ways. Additionally, this platform provides us with crucial data and real-time response from our consumer audience. If it is needed, we can adjust the message more quickly than in traditional media. The checkoff also utilizes influencers such as chefs, food bloggers, dietitians and producers themselves. These influencers extend the social reach of the positive beef message. These third-party advocates actively engage with their followers connecting with consumers, helping combat misinformation about the industry. Beef is something that many consumers enjoy from all ages throughout the country. However, not all consumers approach how they eat in the same manner. They will differ on how they choose their protein, where food comes from, and even how important mealtime is. Some things that affect how people eat and think about beef can be marital status, their stage of life, or whether they have kids in the home and the age of those children. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, on behalf of the Beef Checkoff, wanted to learn more about consumers regarding their behaviors that influence how they shop, eat, and dine. The aim was to find separate consumer groups based upon psychographics, not just demographics. Psychographics relate to consumers’ motivations and attitudes. Using this psychographic data resulted in identifying six distinct consumer ...CONTINUED ON PAGE 12
VOLUME 8
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FEBRUARY 2022
