As beef producers look to boost consumer engagement, a new campaign shows how butchers can be helpful polymaths who can weigh in on a variety of subjects.

The latest work by Beef Farmers of Ontario (BFO), sees butchers cure customer hiccups, offer them fashion tips and provide arcane info on bird physiology.

Jennifer Kyle, BFO’s manager of public engagement and digital strategy, says its brand research reveals that nearly two thirds of consumers don’t ask their butcher beef-related questions, with the most common reason for this being that they never thought of it.

“Our campaign is meant to encourage and empower beef consumers to ask their butcher for Ontario beef,” Kyle says.

The new creative is by Bob’s Your Uncle, BFO’s partner agency and AOR since 2019.

Bob Froese, the shop’s founder and chief creative officer, tells strategy that past brand work for Ontario Beef focused on emphasizing its superior quality and inspiring consumers to incorporate it into their meals, which has been effective in boosting perception of Ontario products as premium.

“Our new campaign is a natural evolution of this positioning,” he says. “While consumers already recognize the quality… new research revealed a gap in awareness: many consumers didn’t realize they needed to specifically ask their butcher for Ontario beef.”

Froese explains that by addressing the subject of consumers asking butchers for Ontario beef in a lighthearted, accessible way, BFO is not only reinforcing the premium and local attributes, but also empowering consumers to make informed choices and feel comfortable requesting Ontario beef.

The campaign, launching in June, features OLV. It will be enhanced with organic content created through interviews that will be designed to help viewers become more familiar with neighbourhood butchers. Involved Media is behind the buy. Froese adds that it’s a digital-first campaign, with 70% of BFO’s “Locavore” demo, which cooks and enjoys beef regularly, spending more than two hours per day on social media, including significant time on food- and recipe-related content.

BFO represents around 19,000 producers in the province by advocating in the areas of sustainability, animal health and care, environment, food safety, and domestic and export market development. Ontario accounts for 6% of Canada’s total beef cow population, including backgrounding and feedlot production.

In May, the brand announced it is partnering with casual dining chain, Lone Star Texas Grill to bring locally produced Ontario Corn Fed Beef to its 23 locations across the province.