Awaken your Beeflex

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Where did that leave beef? Where there was once red meats now lay satay chicken skewers, Thai-spiced calamari, and even veggies. The idea was to reignite Australia's love of Beef BBQ and uplift sales over the summer season.

There has been a long-standing natural order in Australian households where women handle the kitchen jobs, while men own the BBQ. These lines have been blurred with a newly created population of MasterChef wannabes and the humble BBQ being turned into a sophisticated gourmet experience. Research revealed that men are getting creative in the kitchen, and 80% of women said they preferred cooking outdoors.

Putting beef back where it belongs - on the grill

The insight was that beef was losing space on the grill because the Australian male was no longer in control of it. In order for beef to reclaim the grill the campaign aimed to inspire men to man up. It needed to bypass the MasterChef wannabe section of the brain and appeal directly to the consumers male instincts, the inner carnivore, to trigger the primal reflex otherwise known as the 'Beeflex'.

The strategy was to exploit male instincts and manipulate their senses to trigger the BBQ 'Beeflex', to inspire men to step up to the grill. The brand decided to focus on two male passions, beer and footy, coupled with a supply of the tools they would need at the grill.

The timing of the football season in Australia means that the grand final signifies the start of summer and therefore the BBQ season. The campaign saw 50,000 bar coasters distributed across 500+ venues on the day of the AFL grand final.

Gentlemen, start your BBQs

The day after when post-match analysis began, the brand covered the main sporting media with blank pages reminding men that football season was over, hence there was nothing to report, along with a short message prompting them to start their BBQ's. Major arterial roads became large format smorgasbords of steak and snags, with messages warning drivers about the 'Beeflex' dribble, there was also added smoke which rose into the air to mimic a T-bone being thrown on the grill. In addition, bus stops emitted a Beef BBQ scent.

Alongside 15 second spots focused on 'man-formation programmes, 2.5 million summer Beef BBQ cookbooks were distributed through butchers and catered to the modern man with a smartphone app. The information provided covered everything from cooking the perfect steak to choosing the perfect cut. Finally, the campaign was amplified through social media, building the fan base of the Beef Facebook page.

Results

Copies of the Beef BBQ cookbooks ran out within the first month.

Facebook likes of the Beef brand page saw an incredible uplift of nearly 3000%, from 500 to nearly 15 000.

Millward Brown analysis of butchers' rating of 'campaign usefulness in growing sales' revealed that the campaign has been the best summer Beef campaign ever, with an average score of 3.37/5.

Despite being the rainiest October in years the campaign launch delivered the results. Wholesalers reported that sales of steaks increased 40% YOY in the first month alone and remained strong across the period.

Millward Brown has further reported that 36% of butchers rated December Beef sales as very good to excellent, with a further 45% rating them as good. Not bad considering December is the month of ham, turkey and other Christmas meats.