This Week: What Has The Beef Checkoff Program's PROMOTION Program Area Done For Me Lately?PROMOTION, as defined in the Beef Promotion & Research Act, means any action, including paid advertising, to advance the image and desirability of beef and beef products with the express intent of improving the competitive position and stimulating sales of beef and beef products in the marketplace. Stimulating Summer Beef Sales – In an effort to help drive beef sales, the checkoff partnered with Snyder’s of Hanover, Major League Baseball and Anheuser-Busch to introduce two new summer promotions. The first, “Summer Snacking,” will reach about 2 million consumers with instantly redeemable coupons for beef with the purchase of Snyder’s-brand chips. The checkoff also was prominently featured in more than 2 million Major League Baseball schedules distributed at more than 20,000 retail locations nationwide. For more about summer checkoff promotions on tap, visit summer promotions calendar. Retail Training – During March, the checkoff conducted seven training sessions that highlighted proper cooking techniques for various beef cuts. Participants included more than 300 Bloom store directors, assistant store directors, and meat and seafood department directors who work in Bloom’s 60 retail stores in Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. In addition to hands-on participation and sampling, participants received materials – from the checkoff’s Beef Training Camp program – to share with customers about beef nutrition, proper cooking methods, and safe handling and preparation. For more about the checkoff’s retail education programs, visit Retail. Beef Round-Up – The beef checkoff has partnered with Nash Finch, a Minnesota-based wholesale distributor, to drive middle meat sales in eight states May 1-15. The “Beef Round Up” promotion will introduce shoppers to the Slice-n-Save program in 47 stores, including checkoff-funded promotional materials that feature beef-producing families, as well as coupons for $10 off a fresh beef purchase of $50 or more. State beef councils in Nebraska, Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota are lending additional promotional support with local radio spots, “meet the farmer” opportunities, cooking demos, and special in-store displays about beef production and cutting. An additional 233 independent retailers in 11 states have committed to launching the Slice-n-Save program, which will foster subprimal sales just in time for summer grilling season. For more, visit Slice-n-Save. Friends of the Checkoff – Become a “friend” of the checkoff’s “Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner.” Facebook page and you’ll have all the new ‘Profiles’ consumer advertising recipes at your fingertips! During the next several weeks, all six of the new lean beef recipes from the consumer advertising campaign will be disseminated via Facebook – including the delicious “Wasabi-Beer Braised Brisket” recipe, from the new Brisket print ad! The Facebook page will also be engaging consumers in the coming weeks with poll questions designed to help educate consumers on the 29 lean cuts of beef. Beefing Up Restaurant Menus – The checkoff continues to champion beef’s presence on the menu, including participation in the Restaurant Leadership Conference, which gathered more than 750 operators from major chains including Applebee’s, Marie Callender’s, Perkins, Famous Dave’s, and operators and CEOs from Darden and Yum! brands. Separately, at the FoodArts Flavor Summit earlier this month, checkoff representatives shared beef information with top food and beverage directors, corporate and executive chefs and other experts in American foodservice at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone. Through product demonstrations and sampling, the checkoff showcased new menu ideas with beef and distributed the latest recipe brochures for more menu options, flavors and nutritional information about beef. For more about the foodservice marketing efforts, visit www.BeefFoodservice.com. Keeping Up With Change – The scientific development of cooking times for all beef cuts and cooking methods is a critical determinant of a consistent beef eating experience. So, with changes in consumer cooking methods and equipment – as well as cattle – in recent years, the checkoff is revising its applied cookery information to ensure that all checkoff-developed recipes have accurate cooking times for all regions and equipment. Included in this was updating of skillet cooking data: Skillet cooking is a quick stovetop dry heat cooking method that’s best used with tender beef steaks. One popular skillet cooking method is pan-broiling — a convenient and healthy way to cook steaks. In fact, current research indicates that many steaks are cooking more quickly, making this an even more convenient cooking method for beef. For more about checkoff culinary innovations, go to Culinary Team. |