Previously, I commented on the success of milk production Television (TV) ads with their focus on happy, photogenic cows and happy, handsome farmers on spick-and-span farms. For meat promotion, it’s another story. That’s not to say there aren’t happy hogs and cattle and happy, handsome cattle and hog producers on pristine hog farms and picturesque cattle ranches. However, both groups’ ad agencies have to deal with a less-than-happy reality that naïve consumers would rather not deal with in their simpleminded perspective of how meat arrives at their grocery store. The biggest advantage dairy promotion has over meat promotion is that, like their egg-producer compatriots, their commodities do not require the slaughter of animals to produce their food product. The best approach has been to never even allude to that unpleasant reality – and rightly so.
In a previous life, I was involved in the only lamb TV commercial ever broadcast in Canada. It was a sophisticated generic “eat lamb” commercial produced by the promotion arm of the American Sheep Industry Association, who kindly loaned it to the Alberta Sheep Commission of the day. I cheekily added the words “Buy Alberta Lamb” at the end. I expect it was a Canadian first to this day. That’s when I learned how expensive TV advertising was, even for the cheaper off hours when the commercial ran. The US group had a budget of tens of millions and produced several slick lamb commercials and glossy point-of-sale material. But they never showed images of a pretty shepherd with cute live lambs romping around a pasture. It’s better to keep negative thoughts about the fate of those cute lambs from the minds of naïve consumers.
Cattle producer groups have different approaches – promote the final product from a local angle, that being “Alberta Beef” (the greatest national meat brand ever), “Ontario Corn-Fed Beef” (boring) or “Boeuf Quebec. A Taste of Home” (do they raise real beef?) Okay, I am biased. I am not sure those brands really increase beef consumption, particularly the Alberta Beef brand, which preaches to the choir here in Alberta. It’s an old sawhorse of mine, but using the legendary Alberta Beef brand in big eastern urban markets would be much more effective. In my long-ago youth living in Quebec, “Alberta Beef” was an iconic premium brand that was the high-quality standard of the country. But I know provincial producer group politics discourage using that brand in other provinces. But really, does anyone care about Ontario or Quebec beef, even in those provinces. Forgive my rant -but it’s true.
The old Beef Information Centre and later Cannada Beef Inc. were supposed to resolve provincial beef brand chauvinism with a national brand. However, the provincial brands still carry on. Luckily, Canada Beef spends most of its budget on US and offshore export marketing. They have to be strategic in advertising; I suspect they have much less funding than the well-heeled dairy industry. Another advantage the dairy promotion juggernaut has is that it doesn’t spend ad money on export markets and focuses its moneyed efforts on the Canadian market.
Recent TV commercials from the Alberta Beef Producers brought to mind their past commercials and that organization’s challenge in producing TV ads. The challenge is that they want to promote positive consumer perspectives about beef and also show their members that they are getting value for their hard-earned check-off money. I recall some of the first beef ads 40+ years ago, which featured a distinguished-looking rancher on a horse overlooking a hill of grazing cattle, extolling how wonderful it was to raise cattle – it looked more like a tourist travel promotion. The beef marketing brain trust then started commercials with the jingle “Jack Sprat Had No Fat – neither does beef “or something to that effect. Producers were annoyed with that campaign; they preferred the rancher on a horse because they could relate to that image. Changing that producer perspective took years. I believe that, to this day, Alberta Beef commercials keep producer backlash in mind by featuring images of ranchers in their Alberta-focused promotion efforts. Recent commercials featuring ranching families enjoying Alberta beef meals – is a much better approach. Showing them in Vancouver and Montreal would be even better! Other Alberta beef commercials about sustainability and stewardship are okay and environmentally correct. But I think jaded city consumers have become deaf to overused enviro buzzwords, like sustainability, net-zero, emission-free; they all become so tedious.
Will Verboven is an ag opinion writer and a proud advocate of Alberta Beef.
