128 ■ ANGUSJournal ■ October 2007

Tying it TogetherAssociation takes pasture-to-plate approach in new advertising campaign.

by Shauna Rose Hermel

@The Association’s new national advertising campaign consists of six ads, each schedule to appear for a three-month window during the next 18 months.

T he Angus cow has many inherentstrengths that make her a popular

producer choice. Angus bulls are uniquelysituated to add value for commercialproducers. And the brand — well, no onecan refute what Certified Angus Beef ®(CAB®) has accomplished in its 28-yearhistory.

With its national advertising campaign,the American Angus Association has for thepast two years promoted what the power ofone bull … one brand … one registration… one tag could do for the individualproducer. The ad campaign launched inSeptember goes a step further, capitalizingon perhaps the breed’s greatest strength —the enthusiasm and commitment for thebreed and the brand in each segment of theindustry, ensuring there is no weak link inthis value-added food chain.

“In entering into this advertising programwe wanted to kick it up a notch, no pun

intended, to the next level,” says AssociationExecutive Vice President John Crouch.“What we wanted to do was say that we, theAmerican Angus Association, recognize thatour contribution to the food chain is muchmore than just advertising cattle in thetraditional way we’ve done in the past.

“We’re the business breed. We want to doeverything we can to tie every segment ofthis industry together,” Crouch continues,noting how fragmented the industry hasbeen in that regard. “We want to establishthat there is a relationship between everyonefrom the commercial beef producer to theconsumer, and it is all tied together througheducation, through science and throughtechnology.”

Building the campaignThe seeds for the new approach were

sown during the commercial focus groupconducted prior to the September 2006

Board Meeting in Saint Joseph, Mo., explainDeb Norton and Julie Tucker of GraphicArts of Topeka Inc.

“That group literally challenged Angus tobecome the industry leader,” Norton recalls.“They essentially said, ‘You are the only onethat can do it, so you just have to do it.’”

Adds Norton, “There’s no other breed inthe country that has documented addedvalue in every segment of the food chain.”She and Tucker began envisioning an adcampaign that would highlight thiscompetitive advantage and the intersegmentcooperation enabled through the science,technology and leadership provided by theAngus breed. They started to build profilesto represent each segment of the beefindustry food chain: a commercial producer,a seedstock producer, a feedlot operator, apacker, a beef distributor, a retailer, a chef.

Conversation at the February BoardMeeting with Certified Angus Beef LLC

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(CAB) staff John Stika, Tracey Erickson andLarry Corah revealed a similar approachbeing taken for CAB’s retail advertising. Theopportunity for collaboration led to aninvitation to bring representatives of eachindustry segment to Wooster, Ohio, for aphoto shoot that would lend itself to boththe Association’s and CAB’s advertisingefforts.

Ad copy was written and schematics weredrawn for six advertisements. Individualswere identified to represent the profiles, andin April the group met in Wooster. The all-star cast included commercial producer JoeDavis of Westminster, S.C.; Angus producerKevin Yon of Ridge Spring, S.C.; feedlotoperator Cindy Williams of ChappellFeedlot, Chappell, Neb.; Mark Sebranek,manager of Irsik and Doll Feedyard, GardenCity, Kan.; Steve Hunt, Kansas City, Mo.,chairman of the board for National BeefPacking Co. and CEO of U.S. Premium Beef;John Doherty, executive chef of New YorkCity’s renowned Waldorf=Astoria Hotel;and his CAB supplier, Marc John Sarrazin,owner of DeBragga & Spitler, the firstlicensed CAB distributor in America.

CAB rolled out the red carpet with adinner prepared by CAB Corporate ChefScott Popovic the evening before the photoshoot, Tucker says. “They assigned seating,so the tables were mixed groups, and thedialogue was wonderful. Marc John, thepurveyor who supplies Chef John his beef,was intrigued by the production process. Itwas so engaging when Joe Davis explainedto him how he maintains his data, that it’s allelectronic and how he sorts it to makemanagement decisions. It was reallyinteresting dialogue.”

“It was just a great opportunity to have

everybody representing each segment thereand present,” remarks Ty Groshans, directorof commercial programs for the AmericanAngus Association. “The dinner that we hadthe night before the shoot was just awesome,and the conversation that was going onbetween all the folks that were there wasgreat. To hear them and how excited theywere to learn about each other’s segment ofthe industry, as well as what they did andwhere they were from, was just great.”

A new campaign unveiledThat experience furthered the creative

team’s conviction that this was the correctapproach for the advertising campaign forthe Angus breed. In June they presented tothe Board a series of six ads to be rolled outover an 18-month period, each ad beingpublished for a three-month window.

The first ad, premiered in the SeptemberAngus Beef Bulletin, focuses on thecommercial producer’s connection with aseedstock supplier as the first step in a value-added food chain and the benefits gained byrelying on Angus data, marketingopportunities and broad selection ofseedstock suppliers.

The second ad, scheduled for release inDecember, features Hunt and Sebranek, andtouts the profit potential for cattle feedersand packers who rely on high-accuracyAngus genetics. Ad No. 3 features Davis andWilliams and highlights reliable geneticinformation as a means of attaining carcasspremiums and a net carcass valueadvantage.

The fourth ad in the series concentrateson Sarrazin’s and Chef Doherty’s reliance onCAB to provide an unmatched eatingexperience and the premiums they arewilling to pay for the brand. The fifth adtakes a pasture-to-plate approach, featuringYon with Chef Doherty, and Ad No. 6 pullsall segments together with the headline,“The chain will not be broken.”

Two additional ads will be developed tocontinue the campaign, Norton says. CAB’sretail advertising campaign will complementthe Association’s by taking the sameapproach, using some of the same “models”and continuing the pasture-to-platecooperation theme.

“We’re going to take what we’ve donesuccessfully in the past and we’re going to tiethis thing together from one end to theother,” Crouch says. “We are on track toapproach it with a united front, with everysegment of the industry tied together.”

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Two ads will be developed to complete the campaign, which features the Angus advantage in science, technology and leadership for every industry segment.

@Steve Hunt (left) and Mark Sebranek ham it upduring the photo shoot in Wooster, Ohio, for theAssociation’s national advertising campaign.

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