The Florida Beef Council is entering a busy few weeks ahead with several educational and promotional events and we caught up with Deanne Maples with the Florida Beef Council to learn more.
Maples said, “Spring has sprung. It is always a really busy time for us. The beef conversation is blooming, if you will, and so we’ve recently kicked off a new digital marketing campaign that will reach consumers through search, connected TV, and digital out of home, and that’s aimed at keeping beef front and center as folks are planning their meals and making their everyday food decisions, whether it’s to feed their family supper tonight or to plan for big celebrations that are coming up. We’ve also launched a retail e-commerce program with a major national retailer that will reach shoppers across several hundred store locations statewide, and simply put, e-commerce is online grocery shopping. That’s when the consumer adds items to their shopping cart, whether it’s for picking up at the store or delivery to the home, and it’s really an effective tool because it connects us with consumers right at the point of purchase, meaning right when they’re making those big decisions.”
“But we’re also heading into a really busy week that is an in-person time as well. Starting Friday, we’ll be at the Florida Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Annual Symposium, and we love being at this. It gives us the opportunity to connect with the health professionals, the registered dietitians, to talk about the role of beef and the power of protein in a healthy diet, and then we’ll turn right around and host our annual Ranch to Ribeye event. We based this out of the University of Florida. I think it’s one of the most impactful events we do in the year, and we’re expecting a full group of chefs, food service professionals, and even some dietitians for a two-day, very hands-on look at beef production. We’ll get them out on the ranch as well. We’ll have them in the lab at the university, and so they’ll learn about beef production and really the science behind it. So it’s a full schedule, but it’s really all based about one thing, and that’s building beef demand right here in Florida,” said Maples.
Audio Reporting by Dale Sandlin for Southeast AgNet.