Joint Producer Communications Committee

July 31, 2010

Denver

2

Cattlemen’s Beef BoardProducer Communications

Progress Report

July 2010

4

JPCC Priorities

• Highlight checkoff efforts on nutrition, safety, research, promotion, and international marketing; increase understanding of how checkoff works

• While continuing to inform producers who are knowledgeable about the checkoff, target less informed groups of beef, dairy and veal producers and increase understanding of how checkoff works; explain how the checkoff benefits them and their role as stakeholders through a variety of delivery methods

5

Critical Success Factors

• Producers, importers trust that the beef checkoff is well-managed and they feel a sense of ownership in the checkoff through:

– A national communications program that delivers continuous flow of relevant information

– Auction-market operators and producer organizations motivated to serve as conduits of checkoff information

– CBB and state beef councils working together seamlessly to deliver consistent, cohesive communications to checkoff investors and stakeholders

6

Paid Media

• Advertising in publications, online resources and other media that beef and dairy producers rely on for information about their industry

• Transparent, consistent

• Producers talking about their checkoff

• Based on annual RFP process

7

Getting To Know Your Checkoff

8

Getting To Know Your Checkoff

Innovative auction market effort•Online feature•Video advertisingLead to custom landing pages

9

FY’10 Media PlanMonth> 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Beef – print

Beef – interactive

Dairy – print

Dairy – interactive

Dairy – radio

Veal – print

Auction ads

Auction - interactive

Television

AFBF – interactive

QSBC SHARE

MyBeefCheckoff.com

MBC e-newsletters

Social media

Earned media

Direct communication

Deliver 25.8 m

impressions

10

Paid Media Results

2 studies, both in Hoard’s Dairyman. Scores slightly below average, but given the smaller size of our ad, scores are strong.

2 studies, Beef Today & BEEF. Scores above average in all categories.

1 study, High Plains Journal. Scores above average in all categories.

11

Earned Media Update

• Three quarterly webinars

• Since Oct. 1, 2009 – 97 press releases, audio releases and Beef Briefs e-newsletters distributed to media

• Responding to daily media requests, story and interview requests

• Monthly MBC e-newsletters, beef and dairy versions

• Monthly Cattlenetwork interview

• Bi-weekly Dairyline radio interview (producers and state beef council staff)

12

Earned Media Update

• 2010 media survey (see highlights handout)

• March 2010 Farm Bureau article by Robert Fountain

• BEEF. The REAL story is YOUR story.

• Video news release packages

• WDX AgriTalk sponsorship with BQA

• Empire Farm Days sponsorship with NYBIC

• Tradeshows

• Updating social media sites

13

Earned Media Benchmarks

• FY09 Meltwater: 4,940 news “hits” from selected publications. TV tracking: 600 video release airings

• Editors and broadcasters who find the information in CBB releases to be timely and useful (6/10 media survey; 56% of broadcasters; 50% of editors).

• Media e-mail open rate: 66%• Media e-mail click-through rate: 16%

14

Earned Media Brochure Benchmarks• Get To Know Your Beef Checkoff … foreign marketing

edition (to date): 18 states ordering (and CBB); 22,000 copies requested

• Understanding Your Beef Checkoff brochure: 18 states ordering (and CBB); 32,250 copies requested (each sent brochure holders)

• Beef. The REAL Story Is YOUR Story: 24 states ordering (and CBB, State Services, Issues Management and MBA program); 16,000 copies ordered (powerpoint created, posted in toolkit)

15

Direct CommunicationsLeadership reports, updates, support:Newsletters• Beef Board Update (daily, monthly)

• Former Board Update (quarterly)

• Checking In On The Checkoff (weekly)

• Importer News (bimonthly)

Presentation resources,

Customization• Leadership presentations, speeches• Meeting and convention scripts, slides• Topical talking points

16

Direct Communications

‘Public’ information:MyBeefCheckoff.com

Customized landing pages

MyBeefCheckoff Newsletters

Beef Board Annual Report

Response to inquiries(electronic, phone, mail)

Producer leadership bios, photos

“Hometowners”

17

Direct Communications

• State support:– State PC Blog

– Presentation resources

– SHARE support

– Copies of all Updates to CBB members

– Talking points through Checking in on the Checkoff and topical points

– Newsfeeds, state-specific newsletters

18

MyBeefCheckoff.com

MyBeefCheckoff.comin FY09 had:

– 47,816 unique visitors

– Viewing 178,071 pages

•And, it also delivered 79,690 pieces of mail!

19

MyBeefCheckoff.com

So far, in FY10, MyBeefCheckoff.comhas had:

– 49,558 unique visitors

– Viewing 191,254 pages

•And, it also delivered 101,330 pieces of mail!

20

MyBeefCheckoff.com

• Looking at it another way,year-to-date:–Visits – up 46%

–Page views – up 43%

–Newsletters delivered – up 27% and, they’re being read

21

Getting To Know The CheckoffThrough information delivered by MyBeefCheckoff.com

Oct. ’08 - Sept ‘09 79,690 Items deliveredOct. ’09 - June ‘10 101,330 Items delivered

22

Trade Shows• Transparent, face-to-face contact:

– AFBF, NCBA, R-CALF, LMA, NFU, NAMA, NAFB, World Dairy Expo, Dairy Farmers of America, Ag Media Summit, NMPF/DMI/UDIA

• Expanded trade show opportunities with state beef councils (Empire Farm Days)

23

State Support• Ad resources: continuous updates of print,

broadcast ad materials

• Presentations: array of presentations, state and standard templates

• Newsfeed: automatically feed checkoff news headlines directly to state sites (RSS feed technology)

• Customized state versions of beef, dairy editions of MyBeefCheckoff newsletters

24

Questions, Discussion