April 11, 2008
This week: WHAT HAS THE CHECKOFF’S
PRODUCER COMMUNICATIONS
PROGRAM AREA DONE FOR ME
LATELY?
PRODUCER COMMUNICATIONS means expenditures
to communicate about checkoff programs – in
the areas of promotion, research, consumer
information, industry information and
foreign marketing – to producers who pay for
them. This includes production of a Beef
Board Annual Report and other program
updates to producers, trade media press
releases, participation in agricultural
trade shows, and management of a semi-annual
producer attitude survey.
Baxter
Black is Back
– You can’t miss that bandana around the
neck or the handlebar mustache. And you
surely can’t miss the voice. Yes, Baxter is
the voice of beef checkoff producer
communications and he’s back – and this time
he’s not wearing a sandwich board. A big
‘thank you’ goes out to Baxter for recording
the radio ads that will begin airing April
21 in the Southeast and April 28 in the
Northeast. The ads are also available for
State Beef Councils to tag for use in their
individual states. To listen to or download
the ads, go to:
http://www.beefboard.org/checPaidMedia.aspx.
CBB
Officers “Go Live!” on RFD-TV
– On April 28, CBB Chairman Dave Bateman,
Vice Chair Lucinda Williams and
Secretary/Treasurer Dan Dierschke will head
to Nashville, Tenn., to participate in a
live checkoff program on RFD-TV, which has a
viewership of about 100,000 households on an
average Monday night. The Beef Board
officers will open the evening with a
checkoff overview with host Max Armstrong
and wrap up the one-hour session with a live
Q&A from the call-in audience. Feel free to
call in during the show if you have
questions of your Beef Board leadership (the
call-in number, which will be on the screen
during the live show, is 1-866-547-9696.) If
you miss the live show, there are two
rebroadcasts – April 29 at 9 a.m. Central
and, for the insomniacs, May 4 at 2 a.m.
Central. To learn more about RFD-TV or find
out where to see it in your area, go to
http://www.rfdtv.com.
BeefBoard.com
Overhaul
– Over the next few months, the CBB
communications staff will be working closely
with McCormick Company to explore a complete
redesign of the Board Web site,
www.beefboard.org, to make it more
functional and user-friendly. The launch
date for the new design is July 15. If you
have any suggestions as to what makes your
Web experience a positive one and would like
to share that for consideration on the new
Beef Board site, email Lynn Heinze at
lheinze@beefboard.org.
Beef
News Coming Straight To You
– The Beef Checkoff has been gracing
headlines and airwaves across the country
the past few months via the ag trade press.
CBB member Nancy Thomas recently conducted
an interview with Brownfield Network during
the Professional Dairy Producers of
Wisconsin meeting. To listen to that
interview, go to:
http://www.beefboard.org/checCheckinginontheCheckoff.aspx.
Meanwhile, Cattlenetwork.com continues to
highlight producers in Nebraska and soon,
Missouri via their online articles and
e-newsletter distributed to more than 30,000
opt-in subscribers;
Meat &
Poultry magazine highlighted
recent veal news featuring the new veal cuts
introduced at the Cattle Industry Convention
in Reno; Pam Geppert, highly recognized
Dakota Farm Talk broadcaster, recently
featured the extensive planning that goes
into checkoff issues management and media
frenzies such as the Hallmark/Westland beef
recall; and your Beef Ambassadors have been
busy hitting the Internet waves with a video
contest – coverage was picked up by numerous
online publications. See details featured on
the Beef Ambassador blog at
www.raisingthesteaks.com or in the
checkoff press release at
http://www.beefboard.org/NEWSPutYourBeefIdeasonVideoandWinBig34951.aspx.
On
the Road –
The Beefmobiles are rolling through their
fifth year on the road, visiting with
producers at auction markets and cattlemen’s
meetings nationwide. New additions to the
Beefmobile program this year include:
checkoff trivia wheels, heat-and-serve beef
samples, incentives for producer survey card
completion, informational boxes featuring
beef checkoff information on tables in
auction market cafes, and a Proud Beef
Producer campaign. For more information or
to view the travel schedule, go to
www.beefmobile.com.
*If you would like to be added or deleted
from the distribution list for “Checking in
on the Checkoff,” please send a quick note
to Diane at
dhenderson@beefboard.org
