IRVINE, Calif., June 5, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- HEILBrice, a leading Southern California marketing and communications company, today announced that it has been awarded an Effie for its work with The Beef Checkoff Program on a Hispanic retail marketing initiative. The Effies are sponsored by the American Marketing Association and honor effectiveness in advertising.
The campaign was designed to increase the sales of beef to Hispanic customers in traditional supermarkets. Hispanic families greatly over-index in beef consumption but severely under-index in purchases of beef at grocery stores. With beef checkoff funding, HEILBrice created a "Hispanic Beef Retail Toolkit," a multi-pronged campaign that established a store-in-store concept focused on providing a level of selection and service in-line with neighborhood carnicerias. Dollar sales of beef cuts preferred by Hispanic customers increased an average of 28 percent in test stores.
"As an agency, our mission is to provide our clients with Ideas That Build Business," said Hal Brice, chief executive officer, HEILBrice. "We are very proud to have earned an award that acknowledges not just our creative solutions but also the sales results our work achieved for the Beef Checkoff."
"HEILBrice has a unique 20-year heritage in grocery and a particular expertise in influencing specific consumer segments as they shop," said Jim Henger, executive director of channel marketing for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, which contracts to manage retail programs for the beef checkoff. "After in-depth market research, we determined that Hispanic shoppers prefer to purchase beef from carnicerias -- Hispanic meat markets -- because they can't find the cuts of beef familiar to them in mainstream supermarkets. HEILBrice created point-of-sale and merchandising solutions with which grocers could replicate "mini-carnicerias" within their existing meat departments."
The Hispanic Beef Retail Toolkit was designed to reach the consumer by changing the way beef was marketed within the store. Meat department managers were educated on the most popular cuts of beef for traditional Hispanic dishes and made these cuts available in-store. Within the meat departments, a "mini-carniceria" was built with a Spanish-language signage program. Customers were also provided peel-off, bilingual recipes of popular Latino meals and a bilingual, take-home dictionary of traditional beef cuts and dishes.
The program yielded double-digit sales increases in meat departments across participating Albertsons and Lucky stores. Managers at the participating test stores reported seeing new faces and shared that their Hispanic customers appreciated the effort the store was making to reach out to them. Additionally, 83 percent of Hispanic shoppers interviewed said they were very likely to recommend the test store to a friend.
The 40th Annual Effie Gala and award ceremony was held June 4 in New York City.
About HEILBrice
HEILBrice specializes in ideas that build business -- the creation and execution of highly focused advertising and communication programs designed to increase sales, heighten visibility and solidify customer loyalty. Founded in 1987, HEILBrice is based in Irvine, California and ranks among the top 100 advertising agencies in the United States (ADWEEK). Key clients include: Ralphs Grocery Company; The Penn Traffic Companies; Boot Barn; Los Angeles Clippers; Nolet Spirits USA, Ketel One Vodka; LA INC., The Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau; CEIVA and Marie Callender's Restaurant and Bakery. HEILBrice is located at 9840 Irvine Center Drive in Irvine and can be reached at 949-336-8800. For more information please visit www.HEILBrice.com.
About The Beef Checkoff
The Beef Checkoff Program was established as part of the 1985 Farm Bill. The checkoff assesses $1 per head on the sale of live domestic and imported cattle, in addition to a comparable assessment on imported beef and beef products. States retain up to 50 cents on the dollar and forward the other 50 cents per head to the Cattlemen's Beef Promotion and Research Board, which administers the national checkoff program, subject to USDA approval. The checkoff assessment became mandatory when the program was approved by 79 percent of producers in a 1988 national referendum vote. Checkoff revenues may be used for promotion, education and research programs to improve the marketing climate for beef.
Producer-directed and consumer-focused, NCBA is the trade association of America's cattle farmers and ranchers, and the marketing organization for the largest segment of the nation's food and fiber industry.