Reaching the influencers

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 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

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CHOOSING BEEF: NEW DIABETES AND HEART HEALTH RESEARCH

A new randomized, controlled trial, the gold-standard in nutrition evidence, shows that individuals have more choice in how much of their healthy diet can be from lean, unprocessed beef without increasing risk factors for heart disease or diabetes. It adds to the growing body of scientific evidence demonstrating that lean beef can be part of a diabetic friendly diet that supports metabolic and cardiovascular health.

WHAT DID THE RESEARCHERS DO?

7 26 The 33 study participants (26 women and 7 men) were at risk for type 2 diabetes. Cardiometabolic risk factors were measured at the end of each feeding phase and compared within the same individual throughout the trial.

About half of participants started the USDA Healthy eating pattern with up to 1.2 ounces of red meat per day. (USDA-CON) About half of participants started a a similar pattern that contained an additional 5.3 ounces of lean, unprocessed beef per day in place of refined starches. (USDA-LB)

Measured cardiometabolic risk factors after 28 days

Participants were allowed to eat freely for 14 days or more as a “washout”

Fed the opposite diet for 28 days

STUDY TAKEAWAY

Individuals have flexibility to include up to about 6 ounces of lean, unprocessed beef in daily healthy diets without increasing risk factors for heart disease or diabetes.

RESULTS

Most indicators of cardiometabolic health, such as insulin sensitivity and LDL cholesterol, did not differ between the two diets.

The only significant difference observed was a shift toward a greater percentage of cholesterol carried in larger, more buoyant LDL particles during the higher beef diet. More buoyant LDL particles are considered a favorable finding as they may be less likely to promote atherosclerosis.

Measured cardiometabolic risk factors after 28 days

A

vs.

A

Person A, Diet 1

Person A, Diet 2 The same individual’s risk factors were compared between the two diets

To learn more about this research and how beef can play a role in healthy eating, visit BeefItsWhatsForDinner.com.

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segments. They are Family Food Enthusiasts, Disciplined Doers, Social Eaters, Convenience Seekers, Confident Cooks and Budget Basics. For descriptions and additional information on these segments go to: www. beefitswhatsfordinner.com/foodservice/menu-conceptsdiner-insights/consumer-segments.

While all segments enjoy eating beef, Family Food Enthusiasts, Social Eaters and Disciplined Doers make up the larger share of Millennials with kids. These consumers are a driving force in the market. A typing tool identified the smallest subset of psychographics that still accurately predicts segments. It consists of a set of questions that can be applied in other market research to categorize consumers into one of the six segments mentioned. It can be used to test how strong and relevant communication is before advertising. This allows a specific messaging approach for each segment that is combined with targeting considerations specific to each digital platform. We know that Disciplined Doers are drawn to beef-related content focusing on beef nutrition, while Social Eaters like content that is given within the perspective of entertaining and gathering socially. Ideally, the result is getting the right messaging to the right target, which can help minimize costs and increase effectiveness.

We have seen this efficiency come into play over the last couple of years on a state level with YouTube advertising. Our 2021 digital campaigns have highlighted beef sustainability, summer grilling, and holiday entertaining. YouTube advertising is only paid on ads that are watched or run completely. We do not pay for ads that get skipped.

This last year, the Sustainability Campaign received a view rate nearly 13 percent higher than YouTube’s benchmark for the food industry. Additionally, the cost per view was half of the national average. This allowed us to reach even more consumers compared to other brands.

The Summer Grilling Campaign received a view rate 30 percent higher than YouTube’s benchmark for the food industry. The cost per view was 1 cent, compared to the national average of 4 cents. This campaign underscored the targeting efficiency of digital advertising and we reached even more of our target consumers because of this. Data from the Holiday Campaign is not yet available, but we expect to see similar results to the previous campaigns. Overall, the campaigns performed well and were seen more than 3.5 million times.

As we pursue promotion efforts through 2022, we will promote beef as the top protein driving beef demand through creating compelling and clear reasons to eat beef. We will do this through proven demand drivers such as eating experience, nutrition, value, convenience/versatility, and how beef is raised/grown. If you have any questions about any of our beef promotion efforts, please contact the Utah Beef Council office at (801) 355-0063.

A UNITED FRONT

from the Utah Cattlemen’s Association

In the northeastern corner of the Beehive State, the oilfield region of the Uintah Basin has quadrupled in population over the course of local cattleman Dan Crozier’s lifetime. The influx of people has more than doubled in that same area in the time that Crozier has been a cattle producer.

As the newest president of the Utah Cattlemen’s Association, Crozier says the idyllic features that are drawing new residents and tourists to Utah are also the aspects that are suffering the most as the population continues to climb.

“The diverse landscape Utah has to offer – which also make it a unique place to raise cattle – is one of the reasons our state continues to grow,” Crozier said. “But it’s the landscape that is taking a hit as more and more people are putting stress on our natural resources.”

Born and raised in the Uintah Basin’s Duschene County, Crozier was brought up a ranch kid on a cow/ calf operation. But, like many families, the ranch wasn’t big enough to sustain multiple families so Crozier went out on his own, initially in a different field of interest. Owning a small construction business doing both commercial and residential work, Crozier says his livelihood allowed him, his wife Jodie and their six children to gradually work their way into the cattle business.

“Cattle ranching was something that was always in my blood and we gradually grew piece by piece into the roughly 500 acres we own now,” he said.

Being in both construction and agriculture, diversification is something the Crozier Family knows a thing to two about and is a philosophy they put into action on the ranch as well. From summer grazing to public lands to custom feeding and utilizing excess winter feed, the Croziers have experience in a wide range of commercial beef production methods.

Population growth, the inability for local resource management decisions and public policy changes are issues the Crozier Family has dealt with first hand. As 25year permittees on subleased parks and wildlife ground in nearby Colorado the Croziers, often feeling defeated by the cumbersome regulations of utilizing public lands, recently gave up the longtime lease.

“Frankly, it just got too hard and made more sense to sell some cows and move everything home,” Crozier explained. “Even here at home it is down right impossible to compete with the oilfield money in order to obtain grazing ground. Even though selling some cows helped us to pay off the last of our debts on our private land, it can be disheartening to feel like you are throwing in the towel in order to make things work.”

While ranching has it downfalls, Dan and Jodie say they see a silver lining through the lessons that ranching and good old fashioned hard work have given to their family. Today, their five boys – Matt, Logan, Blake, Scott and Colin – as well as daughter Lindsey, have all seen success in their chosen fields. Though not all the Crozier’s children have taken paths related to the family businesses, they have all taken the lessons learned on the ranch and applied them in their own lives. Some of their sons and are in the construction field, some work in the ranching industry and youngest son Colin has plans to stay involved in the current family beef operation.

“We have done our best to build a legacy our kids can be proud of and something they can continue to succeed at on their own. Our goal is to make this ranch an asset for them rather than feel like we have put a noose around their necks. It is an honor to work side by side with your kids and see them learn and grow and it is humbling to have some them want to go to work in the same lines of work as us and to see them do the things with their families that they did here at home growing up,” Crozier said.

The kinds of scenarios faced by ranching families across the west are a trend that will continue as population growth continues and the public gets further disconnected from food production. While there are subsets of problems facing beef cattle producers, Crozier