• Related Work

Cargill Ground Beef

Challenge

At the beginning of a new year, consumers view healthier eating habits as a priority after indulging themselves during the holiday season. While ground beef led the beef category in overall dollar sales leading up to the new year, sales of ground beef tend to flatten after January 1 as a result of this focus on healthy eating. Cargill, the nation’s largest provider of ground beef, supports its retail partners and ground beef sales with in-store promotions, and challenged Associated to find a solution that encouraged ground beef sales during this health-conscious time period.

Key Insight

According to third-party research data, 70 percent of adults desire to eat healthfully, and most believe that meals prepared at home are healthier in nature than those eaten out. Because ground beef is not generally considered to be a healthy ingredient among consumers, many forego their favorite winter comfort foods, such as pizza and burgers. Associated determined that focusing on leaner ground beef products with less fat content would allow consumers to enjoy these winter favorites while still maintaining a healthier diet.

Strategy

The “Square Meals Well-Rounded” ground beef promotion was built around these insights, offering unique, easy-to-prepare recipes featuring classic, yet balanced, “square meals” prepared in a round baking dish. Each recipe incorporated all four food groups and were paired with a complimentary lean ground beef product that would help consumers feel better about the meals they prepared for their families. Materials included in-store posters and meat case-mounted 90-degree signs to catch consumer attention, while case-mounted recipe pads offered all four featured recipes, allowing consumers to plan their menus on the fly while encouraging purchase of lean ground beef products. Colorful on-pack stickers, applied to lean ground beef packaging, helped reinforce the promotion’s health-conscious theme.

Results

One of Cargill’s most well-received promotions ever among its retail partners, the “Square Meals Well-Rounded” promotion appeared in more than 2,000 retail grocery stores nationwide. Simple and minimalistic compared to many retail promotions in the grocery environment, the promotion nonetheless generated impressive results. Despite rising ground beef prices, promotion participants saw a 1.4 percent rise in ground beef volume sold and a 20.5 percent increase in sales dollars.