Milestones in 50 years of beef marketing activities - a retrospective from the archives
As Canada Beef marks the 50th anniversary of beef marketing activities in 2023, it is important to look back at the milestones and leadership that helped shape the organization and its efforts in domestic and international markets.
The desire to provide value and accountability to funders for dollars spent that drove the creation of Canada Beef remains fundamental to operations today and our vision going forward.
Canada Beef began operations on July 1, 2011 with the consolidation of the Beef Information Centre (BIC) and the Canada Beef Export Federation (CBEF). The predecessor organizations had operated as the domestic and international marketing arms of the Canadian beef industry, respectively, with BIC incorporated in 1973 followed by CBEF in 1989.
The BIC started as a domestic consumer information and education organization, responsible for advertising on behalf of Canadian beef products and managing messaging around consumer-facing issues such as beef pricing, beef nutrition, culinary, and product safety.
Formed as an operating division of the former Canadian Cattlemen’s Association with the goal to maximize beef demand, the BIC was headquartered in Toronto and eventually grew to have seven offices across Canada operated by 12 professional staff. In the early 2000s, BIC would streamline efforts and consolidate offices to Calgary and Mississauga locations.
CBEF’s mandate was to promote and facilitate expansion of Canadian beef products to global export markets. CBEF was responsible for identifying key export markets and then developing relationships in those markets to facilitate distribution of Canadian beef products outside of Canada and the U.S. CBEF established local representation in the markets of Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mainland China, and Mexico.
BIC and CBEF merged with the Canadian Beef Cattle Research, Market Development, and Promotion Agency (Agency) as recommended by the Canada Beef Working Group - a group of industry stakeholders created in 2010 to investigate a new organizational structure that would streamline the beef marketing, research, and promotion activities carried out separately by the three entities.
The working group recommended that BIC, CBEF, and the Agency merge into a single organization. The working group released its final report in January 2011 and on July 1, 2011 Canada Beef came into being.
There have been many notable achievements and milestones over the years:
1970s
- 1973 - BIC promotion work begins with the hiring of a consultant
- 1977 - The idea of a national check-off is floated as a way to fund BIC’s promotional activities
1980s
- 1981 - BIC conducts first consumer research to determine consumer concerns about beef to inform ad campaigns
- 1982 - BIC initiates the first national TV and magazine ad campaign, Beef Sounds Good. The success of this campaign paved the way for further national TV ad campaigns including Lookin’ Good Beef (1984-85), Jack Sprat/Beef is Leaner Than you Think (1985-88); and Your Body Loves Beef (1988-89).
- 1987- New nutrition data for beef is published in Health and Welfare Canada Nutrient Files, replacing 50-year old U.S.-based data. The BIC accomplishment followed eight years of effort and three research projects to provide current data that showed the updated nutrition profile of modern beef (50% leaner and 21% lower in cholesterol), information that became core to consumer messaging.
- 1989 - CBEF begins operations and opens offices in Calgary, Japan and Mexico.
1990s
- 1995 - CBEF opens offices in South Korea and Hong Kong. The Hong Kong office paves the way for Canadian beef in the Chinese market two years later on July 1, 1997 when Hong Kong returned to Chinese control after 156 years of British rule.
- 1992 - Olympic Gold Medalist Mark Tewksbury campaign sees the launch of national TV campaign Beef’s Got it Good/Mark Tewksbury’s Nutrition. The campaigns with Tewksbury proved very popular with consumers and became the highest performing campaign at the time.
- 1996 - BIC sets out to enhance consumer awareness of beef by improving retail beef nomenclature. Research showed that the traditional naming system for beef cuts - i.e. named and marketed according to the anatomical location on the carcass - was meaningless to the majority of consumers. Consumers were cooking cuts the wrong way and were dissatisfied with the results. One in three shoppers said their lack of cooking knowledge prevented them from buying certain cuts of steaks and roasts. Consumers bought only a limited number of cuts and if this cut wasn’t in the counter, they didn’t buy beef. The implication for retailers was lost sales and poor margins on less familiar beef cuts. Something needed to change, and BIC led the charge. A task force was formed and the result was a revolutionary new naming system for beef that put the cooking direction right in the name. The New Name Beef program was one of the most positive market initiatives in years.
- 1997 - CBEF opens an office in Taiwan.
- 1999 - CBEF opens the first office in mainland China, the SHA Rep. (Shanghai)
2000s
- Early 2000s - The industry captured the product and industry attributes that differentiates Canadian beef from its domestic and international competitors, collectively called the Canadian Beef Advantage (CBA). The CBA resources clearly communicated the advantages of Canadian beef to trade clients and customers and increased worldwide recognition and demand for Canadian beef and veal products.
- 2002 - CBEF helps the industry achieve a significant increase in export market growth. Canadian beef exports to the world hit 521,000 tonnes, or $2.2 billion, in 2002, up from 94,000 tonnes, or $261 million, in 1990.
- 2003 - BIC initiates promotional activities in the U.S. in March 2003. The foodservice sector strategy aimed to position Canadian beef favourably in the U.S. at a time when Congress was considering mandatory country-of-origin labelling. Food service establishments and facilities such as restaurants were exempt from the regulations.
- 2003 - In the BSE-era of 2003, Canadians rallied behind beef producers and continued to purchase beef locked out of the export markets. No other country in the world had experienced growth in beef consumption and such consumer support in the aftermath of a positive BSE case - support credited to a lot of behind the scenes work of BIC staff with solid relationships with their trade networks.
- 2009 - The Canadian Beef brand mark is launched. The brand mark provides an opportunity to differentiate Canadian beef. A version of the Canadian Beef brank mark is also developed specifically for international customers and implemented in export markets.
- 2011 - Following the merger that created Canada Beef, the Shanghai office changed its name to Canada Beef International Institute (CBII) hence the official start date on the certificate of the CBII SHA Rep. Office is Dec. 7, 2011. The other international offices adopted a similar naming protocol.
- 2013 - On June 5, 2013, the Beef Cattle Research, Market Development and Promotion Levies Order was gazetted, which amended it to include the import levy which had been mandated as part of the Proclamation in 2002. Import levy funds are invested into generic beef marketing programs that support the promotion of unbranded beef. These activities focus on keeping beef on the plate of Canadian consumers by promoting the healthfulness of beef, growing consumer culinary skills, and reinforcing food safety practices. Generic beef marketing resources and programming can be found on the ThinkBeef.ca website.
- 2015 - Canada Beef opens the Canadian Beef Centre of Excellence (CBCE), a teaching/training demonstration theatre featuring a fabrication room, commercial and home kitchen, digital AV studio, boardroom, and world-class equipment. The CBCE provides a place where staff can offer solutions to beef category challenges for customers and consumers. Renovations and audio/visual upgrades to the CBCE will ensure the facility continues to play a key role in communicating the Canadian Beef Advantage across digital platforms to consumers, culinary and butchery students, and meat professionals worldwide.
- 2021 - Canada Beef develops the Canadian Beef Information Gateway. Its use of QR codes is another good example of how Canada Beef continues to reach out to consumers in a manner to which they are accustomed. QR codes enjoyed a resurgence in popularity during the pandemic lockdowns and are a mainstay of retail and foodservice businesses today. The Gateway launched in 2022.
Today’s Canada Beef is headquartered in Calgary with offices in Mississauga, Mexico, Japan, China, and Taiwan operated by 26 marketing, trade professional and administration staff.
The Canada Beef team is proud to carry on the strong legacy of leadership and innovation that continues to serve producers by ensuring a bright future for the Canadian beef industry.
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