From January through May, an advertising campaign promoted beef’s great nutrition and sustainability via four platforms: YouTube video, Google search, Spotify music streaming, and popular news and health websites. In total, the beef messages reached Arizonans 2,193,332 times (impressions*) as they searched for information about beef and how cattle are raised. Of that reach, 850,257 consumer engagements* were garnered through video views, website clicks, and audio listens. 

The Beef Checkoff-funded campaign was conducted by the Arizona Beef Council (ABC) through a grant provided by the Iowa Beef Industry Council (IBIC). 

The campaign was divided into two flights: nutrition and sustainability. Leading off with a nutrition focus for the new year, the advertisements promoted beef’s great nutrition and provided consumers with delicious and nutritious beef recipes. In April for Earth Day, the campaign ads featured a sustainability component to showcase how beef is sustainably produced, bringing Arizona consumers closer to the beef farmers and ranchers who raise beef. 

The first platform, YouTube, utilized nationally-developed Beef Checkoff videos (see below for links to watch), to serve Arizona consumers beef messages 1,443,754 times, and 717,105 of those views were counted as watching the entire video to completion or for at least :30 seconds. That shows that the content intrigued consumers and they were far less likely than the national average to leave the video early. The Cost Per View (CPV) was $0.02, which is half of the nationwide industry average ($0.04), allowing the Beef Checkoff to reach more consumers compared to other brands. 

Secondly, the Google search campaign, which provided users beef content when they searched for beef recipes and health information, showed ads in 23,428 searches, with an 11.81% click-through rate (industry average is 3.7%) to recipes and nutrition pages on BeefItsWhatsForDinner.com. The average cost per click of $0.37 beat the goal and industry average, allowing the Beef Checkoff investment to reach more consumers.    

Third, as Arizonans listened to their online music streaming via Spotify, they heard beef audio ads 136,055 times at the cost of about a penny ($0.015) per listen. A bonus to this streaming service, that we didn’t pay for, was 572 click-throughs to BeefItsWhatsforDinner.com to learn more about beef’s sustainability. 

Lastly, “native ads” were placed on websites targeting users in Arizona. Popular news and science-related sites like TIME, Newsweek, US News & World Report, Taste of Home (plus nearly 600 more, including local sites like KYMA and KTAR) showed beef sustainability and nutrition ads similar to news stories on their homepage. Ads like this and this were seen 590,095 times and clicked 2,929 times. Impressively, those who clicked through to learn more about the content stayed on the beef page for an average of 1 minute and 2 seconds, which is also the national benchmark. These highly engaged visitors are in the category of consumers who want to learn more about beef’s impact on the environment, how cattle are raised, and about beef’s role in a healthy diet. 

“The cost effectiveness and reach of this campaign are paramount at a time when dollars are tight and Arizonans continue to question farming and ranching,” said Tim Cooley, ABC chairman, “and we are grateful to the Iowa Beef Industry Council for seeing the importance of reaching Arizona’s large population. This campaign ensured beef messages were regularly touching consumers during grilling season, especially at a time when inflation, food prices, and sustainability are on their minds.” 

“This campaign demonstrates that using modern advertising avenues like YouTube, Spotify and popular websites to reach consumers makes sense,” shared Kent Pruismann Iowa Beef Industry Council Chairman. “We appreciate the chance to work with the Arizona Beef Council to deliver beef messages to a large number of consumers in a high population area.”   

*The difference between engagements and impressions is that engagements are full video views to completion or at least 30 seconds of longer videos on YouTube, click-throughs to website content on Google, and full audio listens on Spotify. Impressions include those who saw the content and clicked out of a video before completion or saw the ad but did not click to learn more.

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About the Beef Checkoff Program    

The Beef Checkoff Program was established as part of the 1985 Farm Bill. The checkoff assesses $1 per head on the sale of live domestic and imported cattle, in addition to a comparable assessment on imported beef and beef products. States may retain up to 50 cents on the dollar and forward the other 50 cents per head to the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board, which administers the national checkoff program, subject to USDA Approval.      

About the Arizona Beef Council   

The Arizona Beef Council is a non-profit organization served by a nine-member board of directors representing cattle growers, cattle feeders, and dairy farmers, and are appointed by the Governor of Arizona. These volunteers oversee Arizona’s beef checkoff and checkoff-funded programs.