Source: MEATINGPLACE, 1/20/17


The Federation of State Beef Councils said it will extend a smart phone app promotion targeting millennials that has generated sales of more than 270,000 units of fresh ground beef in less than two weeks.

The federation, which is a division of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), said it approved an additional $300,000 to extend the partnership with the mobile rebates app Ibotta through the Super Bowl.

The NCBA is a contractor to the Beef Checkoff Program.

Ibotta is a consumer mobile app with a subscriber base of 19 million mostly millennial consumers. Consumers who download the app can browse the grocery category for rebates on fresh beef products, unlock the rebates and buy the items at any grocery store nationwide to get cash back through Ibotta.

As of Jan. 16, more than 700,000 users unlocked ground beef rebates. Redemption rates have been 35 percent, surpassing the Ibotta average rate of 22 percent and delivering more than 14 million brand impressions for beef system-wide.

In addition to increasing sales, more than 700,000 consumers received educational messaging about beef as a part of the campaign. These were delivered in the form of a beef recipe or an in-app task that helps consumers better understand nutritional benefits of beef.

The $300,000 in new funding is in addition to an initial $300,000 Federation reserve allocation directed toward the Ibotta program last November. The initial investment was part of a $940,000 package for both international and domestic beef promotional efforts during a time of high protein production that is putting significant pressures on the cattle market.

“We have seen tremendous success from the initial thrust of our campaign, so this additional investment makes sense,” said Steve Hanson, a beef producer from Elsie, Neb., and chairman of the Federation of State Beef Councils. “State beef council partners agree with the executive committee that this move to further boost consumer retail beef sales is the right move at the right time.”

In addition to the national campaign, many state beef councils contributed additional funding to promote the campaign to consumers in their markets. Through in-app media tiles, email newsletters and social media engagement, state partners helped drive traffic to the app and create broader visibility of lower beef prices for 2017.

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