NEWS

Beef campaign turns 25, celebrates with brand relaunch

Carol Spaeth-Bauer

Associated Editor

Wisconsin’s beef producers have the opportunity to participate in a Beef Quality Assurance Certification Course which reinforces the skills required to manage beef cattle to the highest standard. The Wedig family proudly wears their Beef Quality Assurance Certification and pride themselves on providing a healthy and wholesome product.

Beef. It's What's For Dinner. It's an iconic food brand that's been around for 25 years.

Celebrating its 25th birthday this year, Beef. It's What's For Dinner, "promotes the purchasing, preparation and enjoyment of all things beef from the pasture to the plate," according to BeefItsWhatsForDinner.com.

Leveraging that long history among consumers, Oct. 9 marked a relaunch of Beef. It's What's For Dinner to reintroduce the brand to a new generation of consumers. Blending the strongest assets from the long-loved brand, such as music and the famous tagline, with new creative assets, the new campaign showcases the pleasure that beef brings to meals, the people who raise it and the nutritional benefits (such as protein) that beef provides.

Millennial consumers

Following consumer research, the overall effort was designed with millennial media preferences in mind, using digital advertising and a new digital platform, which can at www.beefitswhatsfordinner.com.

Under a single, comprehensive location consumers can enjoy an interactive experience on all things beef, from cuts and cookery, to a robust collection of beef recipes to an inside look at the lives of the people who raise beef.

“Consumers love beef, and as with all foods, today’s consumers want the whole story about the beef they buy.” said Alisa Harrison, senior vice president, Global Marketing and Research, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, a contractor to the beef checkoff, which funds the campaign. “Our research shows that the Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. brand is still extremely popular among consumers, including millennials. So, in honor of its 25th Anniversary, we have refreshed the brand and updated our resources to make beef information available to consumers where they want it, when they want it and how they want it.”

The Wedig family owns and operates a 250 head cow/calf beef farm in Southwest Wisconsin. Justin, Mitchell and Levi Wedig are brothers on the second generation family farm.

Setting out to answer the biggest questions consumers have about beef - all in one place - the new website provides lots big pictures, infographics on how to cook beef and nutrition, videos and a categorized recipe collection.

This summer, the Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. team traveled more than 3,800 miles from coast to coast to capture video, images and the stories about the real people who raise beef. The new series of videos and content will feature only real farmers and ranchers from across the country.

Wisconsin Beef Council

In May, the Wisconsin Beef Council refreshed its website. Many of the infographics on Beef. It's What's For Dinner can be found on the state beef council website at http://www.beeftips.com.

While the national team traveled the country to tell the story of beef producers for Rethink the Ranch, the Wisconsin team presents the state's cattle community in stories for Behind the Beef.

Justin, Mitchell and Levi Wedig are brothers on a second generation family beef farm in southwest Wisconsin.

"Wisconsinites think of our Wisconsin beef as coming from farms, not ranches," said Wisconsin Beef Council Director of Marketing Angela Horkan. "We have four-wheelers and baseball caps and out west they've got horses and cowboy hats."

While the message is the same, whether at the state or national level, people can see stories of Wisconsin farmers who are raising beef for consumers on the Wisconsin Beef Council website at http://www.beeftips.com/on-the-farm/behind-the-beef.

Behind the Beef

Consumers can learn about Wedig Cattle Company, a 250 head cow/calf beef farm in Southwest Wisconsin where three brothers play a vital role in the success of the family farm.

Wedig Cattle Company is the starting point for many calves as they make their way through the beef lifecycle. Beef calves graze with their mothers until about six to eight months of age, then are sold to stocker operations that focus on the next chapter of the lifecycle.

“Our favorite part of raising beef is watching the cattle grow,” Justin Wedig said. “Every (cow and calf) pair is so different from one another and really provides such individual growth towards the success of the beef industry.”

Renee Radcliffe and her two children, Jessica and Jared, operate a 60 head Angus cow/calf beef farm called S & R Angus in Weston, Wisconsin. Marathon County.

S & R Angus, a sixth generation beef farmer operated by Renee Radcliffe and her children Jessica and Jared, shared the story of their 60 head Angus cow/calf beef farm in Weston for Behind the Beef.

Living close to Wausau, the farm is very close to a residential area where many people are removed from agriculture.

“We are consumers too,” Jessica explained. “We are everyday people and we eat the same things our customers and neighbors do, including our beef. It is always our goal to provide a high quality product.”

Renee's brother Matt Bayer, who operates a meat market in Weston with his brother Scott, has "a different kind of eye" than many meat processors, due to his farm background.

“I can tell by the quality of the animal and what influences the farm can make to provide the most valuable product for our customers," Matt said. "It is our goal as a family and a piece of the community to provide the highest quality and diverse product possible.”

Matt (pictured on the right) and Scott Bayer own and operate a local meat market in Weston where they practice custom animal harvest and snack stick making.

The Wedig and Radcliffe farms reflect the recently completed National Beef Quality Audit, funded by the beef checkoff, that shows a higher percentage of beef is grading Prime and Choice – the two highest grades USDA assigns – than it has in more than 35 years. Steak tenderness has achieved its best tenderness scores since testing began in 1990, according to the National Beef Tenderness Study.

With higher beef grading and tenderness, the new Beef. It's What's For Dinner. campaign comes at a great time to enjoy beef.