Consumers today are looking for taste, flavor and convenience. The new tag line for National Pork Board (NPB), Taste What Pork Can Do, aims to deliver. After two years of consumer research, the 40-year-old Pork Checkoff moves forward focusing on reaching the next generation of pork consumers and putting more profit into the pockets of producers.
“We all believe pork producers are quick to adopt research relative to genetics, technology, nutrition, animal husbandry,” says Jesse Heimer, Heimer Hampshires and NPB board member. “And this is another great example of where research is driving the decisions by the board, by the organization, with a campaign that was built not just for the producer, but for the consumer of pork, domestically.”
Heimer points out research shows today’s consumer doesn’t see pork at the center of the plate the same way previous generations did.
“This younger generation, they consume prosciutto and a charcuterie board. They consume el pastor tacos. They consume pepperoni pizza and carnitas. We have not even mentioned pork. Most of them don’t even realize they’re eating pork,” Heimer says. “It’s using pork to sell pork.”
NPB member Gordon Spronk points out the multicultural nature of the U.S., and how pork fits into it.
“The unique attribute of pork is it’s over 100 flavors, and that’s why it appeals to multiple cultures. No other protein can say that, and we say it,” Spronk says. “We’re not the other anything anymore. You know what we are? We’re pork.”
“As we think about our country, and we think about where all our growth is domestically with our population, those people like pork,” Heimer says. “They love pork, and we have so much opportunity as an industry to really capitalize on their flavor and taste preference in our protein.”
Meeting consumers where they are
David Newman, the senior vice president of market growth for the National Pork Board, says the entire campaign is about resonating with what matters to future consumers. He says we don’t raise hogs the same as 40 years ago, and the consumer doesn’t look the same either.
“We’ve got to come at them with promotional and a marketing campaign to celebrate what they want,” he explains. “And what they want is to be talked to about taste and flavor, about nutrition and balance and versatility.”
That means meeting them where they are — on their phones.
“That’s where they’ll see it,” Heimer adds. “The exposure and the awareness needs to happen at the point of purchase, or at the point that they’re going to make a decision about a purchase.”
With 77% of sales done at retail, traditional retail marketing is not dead; it’s just a digital first campaign, Newman points out. The campaign will use creative colors and advertising and partner with retail and food service.
“We’re seeing really successful retailer adoption of the new campaign, because they’re hungry for something that can sell more pork in their set, and especially when you think about competing proteins, it’s a really good time to be talking about margining up pork,” Newman says.
The data tells the story
Heimer, Spronk and Newman agree it’s a transformational time and opportunity to launch this new campaign with the consumer demand for protein so high. Further processed items such as bacon, ham, sausage and pizza can help connect consumers over to the fresh side, where the biggest risk is.
“Our data says the biggest risk is in fresh, so when we look at all of the market dynamics that are happening, including international, and we think about this from a standpoint that we produce 28 billion pounds of pork a year in the United States, we export 8 [billion],” Newman says. “That puts 20 billion pounds of consumption at risk right inside the borders of this country. I think that’s enough to justify why you need to be reminding consumers and celebrating all the attributes pork delivers to them.”
Time will tell how the campaign is reaching the target as it is a long-term process. Newman says there are measurements and key performance indicators to help the industry see the progress.
“First, we have the attitudinal measures like, how many people are watching the videos? How many people are seeing the banners? How many people are watching the ad on Tiktok, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Google, everything else,” Newman says. “That’s the beauty of everything being digital today. We can track it.”
Next, the NPB will look at data that quantifies the value for producers, not just what retailers made.
“We need to deliver back the value that it brought to the farmers who paid for it, so that process is ongoing,” Newman says. “Right now, it will be ongoing for years, but as we start to quantify that, it’s not just about impressions or how many people saw our ad, it has to be this — how many people actually saw our ad, put a product in their basket, purchased it, ate it and came back and repeated it. And we can measure that.”
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