Unique Pork Promotion Links Retailer, Internet and USMEF-Japan
Published: Sep 07, 2011
A unique contest that will reach an estimated audience of more than 100 million Japanese consumers is designed to encourage them to both try U.S. pork and develop new recipes that could win them prizes, including holiday gifts of American pork.
The three-way promotion between USMEF, leading national supermarket chain Ito Yokado, and Japan’s largest cooking website, Cook Pad, took shape in an “American Pork Recipe Contest” that started Aug. 22 and ran through Sept. 5. The website, which contains more than 800,000 recipes and has an estimated 460 million visitors per month, set up a special page for the contest: http://cookpad.com/pr/contest/index/353.
The promotion was funded with support from the Pork Checkoff Program.
“There are several benefits that USMEF will gain by conducting this contest,” said Takemichi Yamashoji, USMEF-Japan senior marketing director. “First, the enormous audience that Cook Pad reaches will enable us to get the message of the quality and taste of American pork products to a lot of consumers at one time.”
The promotion also requires that consumers purchase Seven Premium Ham with the USMEF logo, which is available from retailers in the Ito Yokado Group (Ito Yokado, York Benimaru and York Mart) that are jointly promoting the contest.
“Not only does this raise the visibility of U.S. pork with consumers, but it will tell those consumers that the popular Seven Premium Ham is made from American pork loin,” said Yamashoji.
Before the start of the contest, samples of Seven Premium Ham were distributed to 400 followers of Cook Pad to encourage them to both talk about the contest and enter it themselves. The contest has been heavily promoted, being featured on the websites of Cook Pad, Seven Premium and USMEF-Japan.
Contest winners will have their recipes printed on packages of Seven Premium Ham and prizes will include Seven Premium products and gift sets of American pork. In Japan, gifts of meat for the holidays are very popular and often quite expensive.
Through the first six months of 2011, Japan continues to be the No. 1 value market for U.S. pork exports. Japan has imported 249,417 metric tons (549.9 million pounds) of American pork valued at $944.2 million – increases of 10 percent in volume and 13 percent in value over 2010.
The promotion was funded with support from the Pork Checkoff Program.
“There are several benefits that USMEF will gain by conducting this contest,” said Takemichi Yamashoji, USMEF-Japan senior marketing director. “First, the enormous audience that Cook Pad reaches will enable us to get the message of the quality and taste of American pork products to a lot of consumers at one time.”
The promotion also requires that consumers purchase Seven Premium Ham with the USMEF logo, which is available from retailers in the Ito Yokado Group (Ito Yokado, York Benimaru and York Mart) that are jointly promoting the contest.
“Not only does this raise the visibility of U.S. pork with consumers, but it will tell those consumers that the popular Seven Premium Ham is made from American pork loin,” said Yamashoji.
Before the start of the contest, samples of Seven Premium Ham were distributed to 400 followers of Cook Pad to encourage them to both talk about the contest and enter it themselves. The contest has been heavily promoted, being featured on the websites of Cook Pad, Seven Premium and USMEF-Japan.
Contest winners will have their recipes printed on packages of Seven Premium Ham and prizes will include Seven Premium products and gift sets of American pork. In Japan, gifts of meat for the holidays are very popular and often quite expensive.
Through the first six months of 2011, Japan continues to be the No. 1 value market for U.S. pork exports. Japan has imported 249,417 metric tons (549.9 million pounds) of American pork valued at $944.2 million – increases of 10 percent in volume and 13 percent in value over 2010.