Private Treaty Form link (click here)

Checking in on the Checkoff

October 10, 2008

This Week: What Has The Checkoff'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. Beef Training – The checkoff’s www.BeefRetail.org Web site has been updated with several new sections, including “Beef Training Camp,” to serve as additional resources to retailers and ultimately increase beef demand by giving consumers what they want in the meat case. Beef Training Camp is a training tool designed to educate meat case employees on everything related to beef. It includes education about beef cuts, cooking methods, popular dishes, trends, recipes, safe handling instructions, beef nutrition, serving Hispanic customers and customer service. An electronic version of the guide is now available at Beef Training Camp.

Nutrition Central – The Beef Checkoff Program also launched “Nutrition Central” to educate retailers about beef’s nutrition, to help them communicate beef’s protein-packed nutrition message to consumers, and to execute on-pack nutrition labeling programs on meat packages in their stores. The guide has been made available online at Nutrition Central.

Cooking Up The Cook-Off – Plans are under way to produce a 90-second beef vignette for the “Mr. Food” syndicated TV segment, which will be viewed in more than 50 cities on all major TV affiliates and independents on Jan. 8, 2009. The segment will deliver key beef promotional messages through a medium that encourages viewers to enter their beef recipe in the 2009 National Cook-Off and directs them to the Cook-Off Web site for information. In addition, it reinforces the enjoyment and health benefits of cooking with lean beef and demonstrates preparation of one of the lean beef finalist recipes from the 2007 Cook-Off. The recipe will be available for download on the Mr. Food’s Web site, which attracts more than 80,000 unique visitors per month and www.beefcookoff.org.

Reaching The Masses – As the first year of the checkoff’s “Powerful Beefscapes” wraps up, the numbers for Fiscal 2008 are in: The advertising campaign successfully reached 89.7 percent of the consumer target an average of 16.3 times in an effort to keep Beef top of mind with consumers, reinforce their passion for beef and promote and strengthen its positive health attributes. Checkoff print ads appeared in 35 national magazines a total of 143 times, and radio advertising ran on about 17,465 radio stations across the U.S. Further, strong media negotiations garnered more than $2.7 million in earned/bonus media space, at no incremental cost to beef producers! The July 2008 Consumer Beef Index Survey, funded by checkoff, demonstrates the exciting results of the new advertising campaign in the areas of consumer perceptions about beef, which now is more likely to be viewed as a “smart choice” that provides a balance of taste and nutrition – a product that consumers can feel good about eating. For “Powerful Beefscapes” print and select radio executions, go to 2008 Consumer Advertising.  

Serve Safe! – During Fiscal Year 2008, the beef checkoff’s sponsorship investment in the International Food Safety Council (IFSC) helped certify more than 348,000 foodservice professionals in ServSafe® training. The IFSC’s mission is to heighten awareness and importance of food-safety education throughout the $531 billion foodservice channel. Envisioning and working toward eliminating foodborne illness, the ServSafe® curriculum covers a wide range of food-safety “Best Practices” – among them inspecting for temperature abuse or product tampering; proper techniques for storage, handling, and cooking; procedures to guard against cross-contamination, and more. For more information about the checkoff’s food-safety efforts in the foodservice arena, go to Beef Foodservice.