As part of its five-year strategic plan, the National Pork Board is setting its sights on ‘Leading a World-Class Food Industry.’ At World Pork Expo, National Pork Board President Tim Bierman emphasized the image of pork is being refreshed to increase consumer demand….
“We are in the process of developing a new program that will put the domestic marketing program to work and put the domestic marketing out there and get consumers to have pork on top of mind, so that every time they go to the grocery store they’ll pick up a package of pork.”
The Pork Checkoff is making significant progress toward the goal of refreshing the repositioning the pork brand. Pork Checkoff Vice President of Domestic Marketing Ceci Snyder says early consumer research is complete….
“Pork lovers see the world as full of possibilities. They talk about pork, and how many things pork is from lean tenderloin to indulgent ribs. One not surprising finding that we’ve found thus far is that The Other White Meat is certainly well known, but The Other White Meat is so well known that it blends into the background and it’s not motivating consumers to buy more pork.
A final decision of how The Other White Meat will evolve is not been made at this time, but we know for certain that we’re going to protect The Other White Meat’s heritage, it’s very important for our producers, we’re going to protect it legally, as well as in our marketing.”
By next March, an evolution of the Pork Checkoff brand will be unveiled. In the interim, the Pork Checkoff will be doing more consumer research and test marketing. Pending budget approval, the new product marketing will be launched. The new ads will not compare pork to other proteins, but will target consumers who are already medium to heavy pork users….
“When we talk to consumers who use our product, it’s more of a matter of getting into a more frequent rotation, so it’s not really a matter of gaining more customers, it’s frequency. We’ve been talking a lot about our issues, and we like to say that our main competitor is inertia, that people are ingrained in their habits. So, a lot of it is providing products that are convenient to their lifestyle, but, also just being relevant to their life. It think chicken and ground beef fit that mold in people’s lives, and certainly pork can because we know it has the attributes to be convenient, and nutritious, something kids love. So, we see our competitors less as being chicken and beef, but more inertia, and breaking through the clutter being disruptive in a positive manner to show how pork fits into their lifestyles.”
World Pork Expo wraps up today in Des Moines.
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