Joint Producer Communications Committee July 31, 2010 Denver

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Cattlemen’s Beef Board Producer 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 Innovative auction market effort Online feature Video advertising Lead to custom landing pages

9 FY’10 Media Plan Month> 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 open rate: 66% Media 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 Communications Leadership 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.com in 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.com has 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 Checkoff Through information delivered by MyBeefCheckoff.com Oct. ’08 - Sept ‘09 79,690 Items delivered Oct. ’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