Audio: Effort to Build Pork Demand in Mexico Gains Major Retail Partners
Published: Jul 03, 2012
Growing U.S. pork exports is not always a matter of displacing the competition, but rather growing overall demand. For example, the U.S. pork industry holds more than 90 percent of the imported pork market in Mexico, accounting for nearly one-third of total pork consumption. But per capita pork consumption in Mexico is only 24 pounds per year, compared to about 46 pounds in the United States.
The U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) has launched a campaign to build overall pork demand in Mexico using qualitative research, consumer education and carefully targeted retail promotions. Through support from the Pork Checkoff and the USDA Market Access Program, this campaign is designed to enhance the image of pork and broaden its appeal as an affordable, nutritious entrée.
Chad Russell, USMEF regional director for Mexico, Central America and the Dominican Republic, explains that USMEF recently reached agreements with several major supermarket chains in Mexico - totaling more than 500 outlets - to not only help USMEF promote pork through advertising and point-of-sale materials, but also by collecting important sales data to help evaluate the effectiveness of the campaign and develop further promotional strategies.
Through May, Mexico is this year’s leading volume market for U.S. pork and pork variety meat at more than 560 million pounds – an increase of 15 percent over last year’s pace. Export value is up 13 percent, ranking second only to Japan at $463.6 million.
TRANSCRIPT:
Joe Schuele: This is Joe Schuele with the U.S. Meat Export Federation Report. Growing U.S. pork exports is not always a matter of displacing the competition, but rather growing overall demand. In Mexico, per capita pork consumption is only about half of that in the United States, so USMEF has launched a campaign to build overall pork demand in Mexico. USMEF regional director Chad Russell explains.
Chad Russell: Mexico on a per capita basis does not consume large quantities of pork and we think there’s a potential upside to increase that per capita consumption through deploying a well thought out consumer campaign which involves several elements. One of which would be a media campaign using television, radio, and other media. In addition another important element would be the use of point of sale materials at key retail outlets. So, in just recent weeks we’ve reached some agreements with some key supermarket chains in Mexico, some of the largest ones. They’ve agreed to deploy and use many of these point of sale materials at the meat cases, including, a recipe. That was one of the key constraints we’ve found out in our research that consumers maybe are very familiar with how to prepare beef but are not so familiar with how to prepare wholesome, delicious recipes using pork meat.
Joe Schuele: Russell also noted that these major supermarket chains will not only help promote pork, but, will also collect important data to help evaluate the effectiveness of the campaign and develop further promotional strategies.
Chad Russell: We have these memorandums of understanding, negotiated with these retail partners, and part of that is they need to report to us on a regular basis any changes in sales of pork through their outlets. We’re trying to evaluate the effectiveness of this part of the campaign. Also, they’ve agreed to do some advertising on their own in terms of promoting pork to their customers through their normal advertising channels. We hope that through these memorandums of understanding we’re going to get the data needed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the campaign.
Joe Schuele: For more on this and other trade issues, please visit usmef.org
The U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) has launched a campaign to build overall pork demand in Mexico using qualitative research, consumer education and carefully targeted retail promotions. Through support from the Pork Checkoff and the USDA Market Access Program, this campaign is designed to enhance the image of pork and broaden its appeal as an affordable, nutritious entrée.
Chad Russell, USMEF regional director for Mexico, Central America and the Dominican Republic, explains that USMEF recently reached agreements with several major supermarket chains in Mexico - totaling more than 500 outlets - to not only help USMEF promote pork through advertising and point-of-sale materials, but also by collecting important sales data to help evaluate the effectiveness of the campaign and develop further promotional strategies.
Through May, Mexico is this year’s leading volume market for U.S. pork and pork variety meat at more than 560 million pounds – an increase of 15 percent over last year’s pace. Export value is up 13 percent, ranking second only to Japan at $463.6 million.
TRANSCRIPT:
Joe Schuele: This is Joe Schuele with the U.S. Meat Export Federation Report. Growing U.S. pork exports is not always a matter of displacing the competition, but rather growing overall demand. In Mexico, per capita pork consumption is only about half of that in the United States, so USMEF has launched a campaign to build overall pork demand in Mexico. USMEF regional director Chad Russell explains.
Chad Russell: Mexico on a per capita basis does not consume large quantities of pork and we think there’s a potential upside to increase that per capita consumption through deploying a well thought out consumer campaign which involves several elements. One of which would be a media campaign using television, radio, and other media. In addition another important element would be the use of point of sale materials at key retail outlets. So, in just recent weeks we’ve reached some agreements with some key supermarket chains in Mexico, some of the largest ones. They’ve agreed to deploy and use many of these point of sale materials at the meat cases, including, a recipe. That was one of the key constraints we’ve found out in our research that consumers maybe are very familiar with how to prepare beef but are not so familiar with how to prepare wholesome, delicious recipes using pork meat.
Joe Schuele: Russell also noted that these major supermarket chains will not only help promote pork, but, will also collect important data to help evaluate the effectiveness of the campaign and develop further promotional strategies.
Chad Russell: We have these memorandums of understanding, negotiated with these retail partners, and part of that is they need to report to us on a regular basis any changes in sales of pork through their outlets. We’re trying to evaluate the effectiveness of this part of the campaign. Also, they’ve agreed to do some advertising on their own in terms of promoting pork to their customers through their normal advertising channels. We hope that through these memorandums of understanding we’re going to get the data needed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the campaign.
Joe Schuele: For more on this and other trade issues, please visit usmef.org