Beef Ads Meet Shoppers Where They Are in National Retailer Campaign

A growing share of protein purchases is now decided on a screen, in a digital cart, before shoppers walk into a store. A checkoff-funded e-commerce campaign, supported by the Kansas Beef Council (KBC), meets those shoppers there, placing beef advertising on a national retailer's website and mobile app as they plan their next meal.

The approach carries a second advantage. Because the retailer knows which households saw an ad and what they bought, the campaign is measured in beef sales in addition to impressions.

Beef. It's What's For Dinner.® ads showcased beef's unbeatable taste, nutrition and versatility. National ads, which Kansas checkoff dollars help fund, ran across the country with added weight in high-population areas. KBC added state funding on top of that effort, running a separate set of ads to in-state consumers so results could be reported on their own.

Nationally, the ads were served 49.8 million times and generated $108.3 million in attributable beef sales. The retailer matched each ad served to beef purchases made in store or online within 14 days.

To test whether the ads themselves drove those purchases, the campaign compared shoppers who saw the advertising with a control group of similar shoppers who did not. The difference totaled $15.7 million in incremental beef sales, a return of $32.38 for every dollar invested.

In Kansas, the state-funded ads delivered 4,074,720 impressions and $12,748,368 in attributable beef sales.  To learn more about demand-building activities, visit www.kansasbeef.org