Celebrating 25 Years of Beef Checkoff Consumer Promotions
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Suggested Lead: You might remember seeing the television commercials with actor James Garner touting beef as “Real Food for Real People” back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, or Robert Mitchum kicking off the "Beef. It's What's for Dinner" campaign in May of 1992.
After a brief stint with a "Beef. It's What You Want" slogan in 1988, the checkoff returned to "Beef. It's What's for Dinner" in 1999, but this time featuring the deep, powerful voice of cowboy actor Sam Elliott for nearly a decade. And that brings us to the checkoff's latest radio ads, which have tantalized taste buds for beef since 2007 with a sultry recognizable voice reminding consumers that beef is not only good tasting – but good for them.
Yes, beef is still what’s for dinner. And these efforts to keep it that way over the years are thanks to your investment in the national Beef Checkoff Program, which is wrapping up its 25th year in operation on behalf of the cattle ranchers, farmers and importers who pay into the program nationwide.
Today we’re talking with Terri Carstensen, beef producer from Odebolt, Iowa, and chair of the checkoff’s Joint Advertising Committee, about the historical accomplishments of your checkoff investment into beef promotion.
Carstensen 1: “The overall longevity and success of the Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner campaign, which you know is a famous tagline and very recognizable in advertising history, 80 percent of Americans recognize this phrase. So we’re coming up to 20 years in the marketplace and the tagline tells consumers that especially when it comes to dinnertime, and any other daypart for that matter, beef is the king of the plate and deserves its rightful place as one of America’s favorite foods.” (:29 seconds)
Carstensen says the advertising program is multi-faceted and is a critical component to maintaining and growing demand for beef.
Carstensen 2: “Beef is viewed by many consumers as one of the most delicious protein choices and the checkoff’s advertising program over time has worked to build upon consumer’s love affair with beef by showcasing beef’s ability to bring family and friends together over memorable meals. The checkoff’s advertising program also works to help educate consumers on the health and nutritional benefits of beef as the industry continues to fight against misperceptions and misinformation and the resulting consumer confusion in the marketplace. The campaign provides a guaranteed voice for producers to talk to consumers directly and in an unfiltered way, which is critical when delivering beef’s health, nutrition and enjoyment message.” (:45 seconds)
Carstensen says when faced with declining budgets over the last 25 years, the promotion program area has been versatile and changed with the times.
Carstensen 3: “As with most checkoff programs, the advertising budget has shrunk over the years and is now just shy of $10 million. At the same time, cost has risen dramatically. As a result, the checkoff has had to move from TV advertising which we all miss, to alternative forms including magazines, billboards, radio, and now we’re doing online advertising. These mediums provide a much more targeted approach to reaching the right consumers more cost-efficiently, which we need to do with our checkoff dollars. Online advertising, in particular, continues to grow and expand and is really, really exciting. And it’s providing us the opportunity for the checkoff to provide consumers with answers to their questions about beef, and this way we can get out our beef recipes in a very direct and engaging way.” (:50 seconds)
Carstensen has served on the advertising committee for eight years and tells us more about why she feels producers have supported this program from the very inception of the checkoff.
Carstensen 4: “When it comes to our advertising dollars, we are the largest budget, but I feel that we are the umbrella for all of our programs in promotion – for foodservice and retail. So if someone sees the Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. ad in the magazine, then that will drive them either to go to the restaurant for an evening for an enjoyment experience or to go to the retail and grab a steak or a hamburger and things to have for the grill; or a pot roast for one of your winter evening meals. When the checkoff started, advertising was one of the main reasons why they wanted to collect the $1 checkoff, so that was a main objective. So producers are relating to advertising and they don’t realize how much more their checkoff is doing. But like I said, they relate to advertising. So it’s really important for producers to understand that our advertising is just one of the areas of their checkoff dollar.” (:58 seconds)
Be sure to tune in again for the next in our 6-part series celebrating 25 years of the beef checkoff. And for more about your beef checkoff investment, visit MyBeefCheckoff.com.
The Beef Checkoff Program was established as part of the 1985 Farm Bill. The checkoff assesses $1 per head on the sale of live domestic and imported cattle, in addition to a comparable assessment on imported beef and beef products. States retain up to 50 cents on the dollar and forward the other 50 cents per head to the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board, which administers the national checkoff program, subject to USDA approval.
Funded by the Beef Checkoff.
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