IBA Update - October 5, 2015

October 5, 2015

Strong Results for Digital Advertising Campaign

This year marks the second year that the Beef Checkoff-funded "Beef. It's What's For Dinner." brand launched its online advertising campaign using a new integrated digital media plan. To date, the digital campaign has been a success, educating millions of consumers on beef's superior taste, nutrition and ease-of-use, by providing them with the beef-related information that they need, when they need it. Through the Beef Checkoff's digital campaign, consumers are equipped with the beef tips, techniques and recipes they need to ensure a great beef eating experience, each and every time.

Millennials initiate more than 5 million online food-related searches each day. The Illinois Beef Association saw this as a tremendous opportunity for the Beef Checkoff's consumer digital advertising campaign and chose to invest in this effort to promote beef and share positive images with millennial consumers. This year's campaign ran for four months over the summer and targeted millennial consumers living in the top five population states in the U.S.: California, Florida, Illinois, New York and Pennsylvania. Overall, your investment worked to disseminate a significant amount of Beef Checkoff material and generated a substantial amount of consumer engagement across these heavily populated states and the results are impressive.

The search advertising portion of the campaign motivated 188,000 consumers to visit the Beef. It's What's Dinner.com website, where they explored a total of almost 370,000 pages worth of beef recipes, culinary tips and techniques.

Throughout the campaign, consumers from Illinois remained the most engaged with the Beef. It's What's Dinner.com website. The 37,756 users from Illinois that visited the site looked at an average of 2.44 Pageviews/Session (vs. campaign average of 2.13 Pageviews/Session).

Further, the YouTube media portion of the plan generated over 363,000 video views of the checkoff's new "No Recipe - Recipe Videos."

"Our checkoff's digital advertising program is highly targeted and incorporated into consumers' everyday lives, across the entire U.S., ensuring beef's visibility in the marketplace," said Mike Martz, IBA president. "The exciting part is that we are showing consumers they don't have to sacrifice taste or nutrition for convenience. We continue to engage consumers during their moments of meal planning, inspiration and decision-making, and results show we're having an impact and that every interaction matters. Digital/social media is such a great tool because it is available 24/7."

The BeefItsWhatsForDinner.com website continues to serve as the go-to resource for recipes and meal inspirations, cooking tips and techniques, and nutrition information. The search engine advertising strategy was implemented to drive consumers that are already proactively searching for recipe, food and cooking information-but may not be thinking about beef-to BeefItsWhatsForDinner.com. Visit BeefItsWhatsForDinner.com.

The "No-Recipe Recipe" consumer advertising videos were utilized in this campaign to inspire new meal ideas and cooking techniques, and show how beef can help bring a delicious and nutritious meal to life. View videos.

Illinois Beef Magazine Deadline

Book your ad for the November/December issue of Illinois Beef magazine by Oct. 15!

DEADLINE EXTENDED - NCBA and PLC Accepting Applications for Public Policy Internship

The National Cattlemen's Beef Association and the Public Lands Council's government affairs office in Washington, D.C., is accepting applications for the spring 2016 public policy internship. The deadline to submit an application is Oct. 16, 2015.

NCBA Executive Director of Legislative Affairs Kristina Butts said this is a great opportunity for students with an interest in the beef industry and public policy.

"The internship gives college students the opportunity to work alongside staff on a range of issues that impact U.S. cattlemen and women," Butts said. "The internship is designed to work closely with the lobbying team on Capitol Hill; to assist with NCBA and PLC's regulatory efforts; and to work closely with the communications team."

Producer-led and consumer-focused, NCBA is the nation's oldest and largest national organization representing America's cattle producers. PLC is the only organization in Washington, D.C., dedicated solely to representing cattle and sheep ranchers that utilize federal lands. The organizations work hand-in-hand on many issues, sharing office space in the heart of the nation's capital.

Summer 2015 intern Chris Pudenz said the internship has been a great experience and has him considering job opportunities in D.C. in the future.

"I've learned so much about policy issues that impact the beef industry in far-reaching ways: Country-of-origin labeling, the "waters of the United States" regulation, international trade agreements, the potential impact of foreign animal diseases, etc," said Pudenz, who is a junior at Hillsdale College studying economics. "The work I do is always valued, and I know that I'm working alongside first-rate NCBA staff to help U.S. beef producers every day. Before this summer, I had no desire to work in a Congressional office, but now I'm seriously considering working on Capitol Hill after I graduate from college. I didn't really know what to expect from this internship before I arrived in D.C., but looking back I can't imagine having spent the summer any other way."

The full-time internship will begin January 11, 2016 and end May 13, 2016. To apply, interested college juniors, seniors or graduate students should submit the application, college transcripts, two letters of recommendation and a resume to internships@beef.org. More information about the NCBA public policy internship is available on www.BeefUSA.org.

FREE BQA Online Training

Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc. (BIVI) will once again be partnering with the Beef Quality Assurance program to offer free BQA training through the online training platform housed at the Beef Cattle Institute. Since these offers have started there have been over 22,000 users that have become BQA trained online. The offer is available from Sept. 15 through Nov. 20. Anyone interested in cattle, and especially those involved with cattle production, should be BQA trained. To take advantage of the offer visit BQA.org to sign up before Nov. 20.

NCBA Applauds Conclusion of Trans-Pacific Partnership Negotiations

The National Cattlemen's Beef Association has learned that the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations have successfully concluded today in Atlanta. NCBA President and Chugwater, Wyo., cattleman, Philip Ellis said this agreement will boost U.S. exports and eliminate trade barriers.

"While the full details of the partnership will not be released until the President presents it to Congress, cattle producers are assured this is a true 21st century agreement," said Ellis. "The TPP will immediately reduce tariffs and level the playing field for U.S. beef exports to these growing markets. TPP is a major win not only for the beef industry, but for all U.S. export products, growing the economy while supporting jobs and investments in agriculture and technology."

Beef exports currently add over $350 to each head of cattle sold in the U.S. With the completion of this work, NCBA looks forward to increased demand and growth for beef exports across the Pacific Rim. Through the partnership process with these 11 other nations, beef producers were able to secure the best deal possible to address tariff and non-tariff trade barriers to beef exports, surpassing individual country arrangements.

Seeking Producer Input - Antibiotics Survey

In connection with the National Institute for Animal Agriculture (NIAA), the checkoff is helping to distribute a producer survey about use of antibiotics on cattle operations. The survey was created with the help of Kansas State University, in response to comments from the checkoff's Safety Subcommittee at the 2015 Cattle Industry Summer Conference.

NIAA has been a checkoff subcontractor to the National Livestock Producers Association, on authorization requests that have helped provide funding for a national symposium about use of antibiotics in food animals for each of the last five years. During their meeting in July, members of the checkoff's Safety Subcommittee discussed the need for more producer information on the topic, possibly gathered through a survey about their use of antibiotics. With that, NIAA worked with KSU to prepare a survey for producers, and all Beef Board members and Federation directors are encouraged to participate in the survey and pass the link along to other producers, to achieve the highest participation possible!

Take Survey

CattleFax - Weekly Recap

Fed cattle cash trade in the North occurred in a wide range of $114 to $122 last week, $8 to $16 lower compared to the previous week. Dressed trade occurred at $182 to $193 which is $15 to $20 lower compared to the week prior. Fed cattle in the South traded in a full range of $118 to $124 last week, $6 to $12 lower than the previous week.

Boxed beef prices moved lower last week as buyers continue to remain short bought in the down trending market. Feeder cattle were lower again last week by $5 to $10. Calves moved lower by $10 to $20 compared to the previous week. Markets cows continue to trend seasonally lower, moving $5 to $10 lower last week.

Corn was mostly flat last week as the market awaits better information on expected yields.

Check out today's Chart of the Day. For recent market news and analysis, visit CattleFax.com .