More US consumers aspire to buy to NZ beef and lamb

// International Trade

Taste Pure Nature is continuing to perform well in the US. The latest brand tracking shows sustained lifts in awareness and preference for New Zealand grass-fed beef and lamb.

Taste Pure nature banner

“Conscious Foodies are increasingly intrigued and inspired by New Zealand’s unique grass-fed proposition,” says Michael Wan, Global Manager – New Zealand Red Meat Story.  

“Despite ongoing market volatility due to the dynamic COVID-19 situation, we’re reaching more Conscious Foodies and linking them to available products through innovative partnerships and collaborative campaigns with exporters.

“Our campaign in the U.S. continues to deliver on key messages that New Zealand beef and lamb is grass-fed, high quality, great tasting and from a unique, natural environment,” says Michael. 

As a result, awareness of New Zealand’s unique farming practices has increased by 21% in comparison to our 2019 benchmark. 

Aspiration to buy New Zealand beef and lamb has also strengthened, but lamb in particular shows strong potential with more than 80% of Conscious Foodies prepared to pay a premium price and agreeing that this protein is a better choice for them. Aspiration to purchase New Zealand grass-fed beef is also strong at 51%.

Lift in sales due to L.A. billboards and digital ads reaching millions

Mike Thorpe, Senior Director of Perishables at JON’s Fresh Marketplace reported an impressive lift in sales of Silver Fern Farms product during the most recent  L.A. billboard campaign, which featured  24 billboards at locations in proximity to key LA retailers that sell New Zealand grass-fed beef and lamb

The billboards were supported by digital advertising across Google, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube – and followed up by a second round of digital advertising to generate more than 72 million impressions, 1.7 million video views and 110,000 clicks to the Taste Pure Nature website.  

The next campaign went live earlier this week.

Read more about this campaign here.

Reaching new consumers via influencers 

Taste Pure Nature partnered with five high-profile influencers this year to tell the New Zealand grass-fed beef and lamb story, including Spoon Fork Bacon, What’s Gaby Cooking and Max the Meat Guy. 

“These partnerships with influencers have proven to increase exposure to our brand and key messaging, whilst educating consumers on product availability and where to find it in their area,” says Michael.

Since April, our influencer content has reached more than 2.2 million people and generated more than 48,000 engagements and 43,000 video views.

Tailored social media content lifts reach

With video content becoming increasingly favoured by consumers on social media, Taste Pure Nature tailored it’s content approach accordingly and saw a 70% increase in Facebook video views and a 38% lift in Instagram reach.

Pinterest has also seen high impressions and engagement thanks to re-posted influencer content and useful tips and tricks that coincided with popular U.S. holidays and events. Since January 2022, other brands Pinterest engagements are up 80%, impressions are up 51% and total reach is up 43%.

The website is also seeing an increase in traffic, with more than 108K sessions and a 5% increase in organic traffic compared to this time last year. Popular pages include Recipes & Tips and Where to Buy, with 3% of traffic clicking to learn more about partner brands.  

Rewarding partnerships with exporters

A recent partnership with Silver Fern Farms saw sales revenue from the brands lamb products increase by 266% compared to the previous month and website traffic increase by 68%.

This partnership focused on a month-long digital advertising campaign to promote New Zealand grass-fed lamb via the Silver Fern Farms direct-to-consumer e-commerce platform. The campaign tied in with the Easter holiday and included a compelling 20% discount offer and the launch of two new lamb bundles.

In another campaign to celebrate Earth Day, Taste Pure Nature partnered with Atkins Ranch and nutritionist Rania Batayneh for a broadcast segment on KOIN AM Extra. The show has a weekly unique viewership of 33,500 and was used to highlight New Zealand’s sustainable farming practices and road to climate neutrality. Atkins Ranch lamb was spotlighted with a call to action for consumers to find it at their local Whole Foods Market. Read about how B+LNZ celebrated Earth Day domestically.

NZ red meat takes over LA Times

To reach even more Conscious Foodies, the brand teamed up with the LA Times in May to pilot a marketing campaign across its popular website and communication channels. 

The outlet reaches 35% of LA County, with 50% of this audience being Food & Recipe Enthusiasts with similar demographic / behavioural traits to Taste Pure Nature’s Conscious Foodie. 

The campaign included a takeover of the LA Times Food section, branded features in newsletters and ad placements across various news and lifestyle categories. Results include more than 1 million impressions with 7.8% of website traffic showing high interest in our partners and general content.

Read the full story.

Stay up to date 

The ‘Bite of Taste Pure Nature’ quarterly e-newsletter is packed with more information and updates like this for the U.S. and Chinese markets, and includes market intelligence and performance tracking. Stay up to date with New Zealand's beef and lamb origin brand, subscribe here.