Get a bigger bang for beef
Let’s see, there is that annoying guy who thinks constantly about cheese, the grandfatherly farmer who’s proud to be an egg producer and the hockey players with the cool Holstein black and white legs.
I remember generic television food ads.
But for the life of me, I can’t remember a beef TV advertisement.
Members of the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association might have had the same experience. Recently they voted to ask the Beef Information Centre to stop using checkoff funds to advertise on television.
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BIC spends $3.1 million on advertising, of which $2.5 million goes to TV.
BIC tracks the effectiveness of the ads and has data showing that where it advertises, the amount of beef purchased and the number of homes buying beef increases.
But overall, beef demand is sinking in Canada.
Kevin Grier, beef analyst with the George Morris Centre, noted in a recent newsletter that all beef produced eventually gets eaten. The key to demand is the price at which it moves.
Beef’s problem is that it gets eaten only if the price falls. For example, in both 1993-94 and 1996-97, Canadians bought about 50 pounds of beef per capita. However, in the latter year, they paid about eight percent less for it. In the 1980s, Canadians ate more beef and paid more for it.
Grier said the main trouble is that too many consumers complain about lack of consistent quality and convenience in beef.
The industry has an education campaign aimed at producers to improve quality. It funds genetic research to find the source of taste and tenderness in beef. And the BIC is working with packers and processors to try to make beef more convenient.
These are good strategies.
But here is a suggestion where advertising might help.
My read of the public is that beef is not considered hip.
The cigar industry faced the same fact in the late 1980s. It was up against a never-ending stream of of health information that clearly showed smoking is terrible for you.
But thanks to a campaign linked to glossy magazines featuring glamorous and sexy movie stars and models puffing on stogies, cigars have become trendy and sales in the United States have risen 133 percent since the late 1980s.
Recent beef ads have featured squeaky clean Olympic swimmers and figure skaters. Maybe it’s time to feature hip, glamourous stars chowing down on beef stir fry and steaks.
