2025 programs at a glance

A WINNING RECIPE FOR BEEF PROMOTION

This St. Patrick’s Day, Kansas Beef Council (KBC) took a strategic approach to keep beef top-of-mind for consumers. Through digital marketing, engaging content and targeted advertising, KBC showcased corned beef as the must-have protein for the holiday. Here’s a look at the impact the checkoff dollar made.

KBC created three different ad creatives to test performance and optimize results. By analyzing engagement and cost per click, they identified the best-performing ad, which delivered the lowest CPC at just $0.10, ensuring the most efficient use of checkoff dollars.

PINTEREST PERFORMANCE 

The ads on Pinterest generated 140,340+ impressions and maintained an average $0.13 CPC, showing strong engagement with over 2,144 pin clicks. The campaign successfully drove high-intent traffic, ensuring that beef recipes remained visible when consumers were searching for St. Patrick’s Day meal inspiration. By leveraging seasonal trends, KBC positioned beefas the go-to choice for St. Patrick’s Day meals while maximizing producer dollars efficiently.

CAMPAIGN HIGHLIGHTS ✅ 

Engaging Content – KBC created a Top 10 Corned Beef Recipeslisticle, making it easy for consumers to discover new ways to enjoy beef. ✅ Strong Digital Performance – KBC’s ads on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest reached over 118,466 consumers, with high engagementand cost-effective results. ✅ Radio Outreach – Director of Communications, Hailey Gilbreath was the spokeswoman on two different radio interviews, sharing how beef remains a staple for St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. 

BY THE NUMBERS 📌 

Facebook Ads: Reached 70,451+ people with 118,466+ impressions, averaging a $0.10 CPC – better than industry averages​. 📌 Pinterest Ads: Over 140,340+ impressions, maintaining a $0.13 CPC, showing strong engagement​. 📌 Instagram: Engaged 384 users, leading to 268 link clicks​.

WHY THIS MATTERS:  

 This campaign wasn’t just about sharing recipes—it was about strategic consumer influence. Every ad served, every click generated and every recipe viewed is a deliberate effort to keep beef relevant and in demand. Consumers don’t just stumble upon meal inspiration; they search for it, and KBC made sure beef was front and center when they did. By tapping into seasonal trends like St. Patrick’s Day, KBC met consumers where they were already looking—on social media, in search results, and on digital platforms like Pinterest. The results prove that intentional, data-driven marketing works.  When KBC invests in smart marketing, they aren’t just supporting a single campaign—they’re reinforcing beef’s place at the table for generations to come.

Get the Recipes

Beef Brings us together for unforgettable matches, meals and memories

Kansas City is world-famous for its barbeque, but did you know it’s also the soccer capital of America? Now, we’re bringing those two passions together in a big way! The Kansas Beef Council is proud to partner with Sporting KC, Kansas’ only professional soccer team, to showcase beef as the protein that powers athletes, families and fans alike. 

With 17 home matches and more than 360,000 fans in attendance, Sporting KC provides an incredible platform to connect with a young, active and growing audience—one that values nutrition, quality food and performance. Soccer’s rising popularity brings a diverse and health-conscious fan base, making this the perfect opportunity to highlight beef’s essential role in fueling strength, endurance and recovery. 

How We’re Showcasing Beef 

• Stadium Signage: Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. branding featured throughout Children’s Mercy Park.  
• On-Site Fan Engagement: Select matchday activations to connect with fans and showcase beef’s benefits. 
• Team Dietitian Partnership: Sharing beef-powered recipes with 80,000+ soccer families. 
• Youth Soccer Events: Engaging with thousands of young athletes to reinforce beef’s role in performance nutrition. 

Why this Matters for Beef Producers: 

This partnership ensures beef is the #1 protein source for the next generation by driving demand for beef to a new audience and showcasing more versatile ways to incorporate beef into meals. Educating consumers on beef’s nutritional benefits, sustainability and role in active lifestyles, strengthens beef’s presence in youth sports and beyond. Sporting KC’s season kicked off March 1, and we’re ready to fuel the excitement! Stay tuned for updates on how beef is making an impact on and off the field. For more on beef’s role in performance nutrition, visit Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner.

Expanding nutrition outreach: bringing the beef in a mediterranean diet toolkit to health professionals 

In 2025, the Kansas Beef Council’s nutrition programming has made significant strides in extending the "Beef in a Mediterranean Diet" toolkit to health professionals across various disciplines. The Mediterranean diet is currently ranked as the #1 diet in the United States. According to a recent article by U.S. News and World Report¹, this diet usually recommends almost the complete elimination of red meat, however, thanks to research conducted by the Beef Checkoff², lean beef can be included in a Mediterranean diet. Through targeted engagement and participation in key health professional conferences, we have been able to share science-based resources that support the integration of lean beef into heart-healthy diets. 

BEEF CHECKOFF-FUNDED OUTREACH EXPANDS HEART-HEALTHY BEEF EDUCATION

The Kansas Beef Council is advancing efforts to share the science behind beef’s role in heart-healthy diets, reaching health professionals and consumers with evidence-based resources. February's American Heart Month provides an ideal opportunity to amplify these initiatives and highlight beef’s role in supporting heart health.

Science-Backed Benefits: Lean Beef & Cardiovascular Health

The recently developed Science Update: Lean Beef and Cardiometabolic Healthbooklet, which summarizes key Beef Checkoff-funded research, is being shared with health professionals nationwide. It features notable studies such as the landmark (Beef in an Optimal Lean Diet) BOLD study, which demonstrated that including 4-5 oz of lean beef daily in a DASH-style diet improved cholesterol levels. Additionally, a randomized clinical trial by Fleming et al. (2021) found that a Mediterranean-style diet including up to 5.5 oz of lean beef daily led to improvements in cardiovascular risk factors, such as lower LDL cholesterol levels – the “lousy” ones. O’Connor et al. (2018) further supported these findings, showing improved cholesterol and blood pressure with lean red meat in a Mediterranean diet.

Empowering Health Professionals and Expanding Consumer Outreach

To complement these research findings, the Kansas Beef Council shares educational materials and recipes that showcase how lean beef fits within a heart-healthy diet and lifestyle. For example, a one-page patient handout highlights that a 3-oz cooked serving of lean beef provides 25g of protein and essential nutrients, all while being naturally low in sodium — an ideal fit for heart-healthy eating. Social media platforms extend outreach efforts by featuring heart-healthy beefrecipes, inspiring consumers to pair lean beef with vegetables, whole grains, and good fats—reinforcing heart-healthy diet principles. The Beef Checkoff’s commitment to research and education continues to position lean beef as a nutrient-dense, heart-healthy choice. Producers can take pride in knowing their work supports beef’s place in modern, health-conscious diets, backed by solid scientific evidence.

DRIVING NATIONAL IMPACT WITH TAILGATING-THEMED BEEF ADS

The Kansas Beef Council (KBC) partnered with NCBA, a contractor to the BeefCheckoff on a national buy and conducted a Kansas-specific campaign. The partnership with a leading national grocery outlet ran from August 1 to September 30, 2024 and focused on a tailgating-themed campaign aimed at increasing beefsales and awareness. The results of the campaign were just released and were phenomenal, with impressive impacts both nationally and locally.  

National Highlights    

• 52.4M ads seen: Ads funded by the Beef Checkoff reached millions of consumers nationwide, driving awareness and engagement.     
• 8.2M households reached: A testament to the campaign’s extensive reach.    
• $10.9M in incremental beef sales: The test group, exposed to “Beef It’s What’s For Dinner” (BIWFD) ads significantly outperformed the control group, generating $10.9M more in beef purchases. 
•  $34.67 in incremental beef sales per ad dollar invested: For every dollar spent on advertising, $34.67 was generated in incremental beef sales 

Kansas Results 

KBC concentrated its efforts within Kansas while collaborating with the Kansas City Direct Marketing Association (KCDMA), achieving outstanding results. Within the KCDMA alone, KBC ads were viewed more than 850,000 times, generating an impressive return on investment (ROI) of $182.60 and more than $940,000 in traceable beef sales. Statewide, the campaigns reached nearly 1.3 million Kansas consumers, achieved a return on investment of $179.80, and contributed to approximately 1.4 million traceable beef sales. These outcomes highlight the power of a localized and cooperative approach to promoting beef. 

Success of Strategic Advertising 

This partnership highlights how strategic advertising effectively can boost beefsales and maximize ROI. By leveraging tailored messaging and targeting, we reached millions of consumers, generated millions in incremental sales, and delivered a strong ROI for both national and local efforts