Preview of 2008 Convention

For a preview of what’s going to be taking place here in Reno at the annual convention I sat down with Beef Board CEO, Tom Ramey (l) and Executive Dir. of Communications, Lynn Heinze. Also pictured is Cheri Delgado, Senior Executive Assistant.

Tom says that this is the beginning of the annual planning cycle for the Beef Board. He says they examine what the priorities are for the coming FY ‘09 or as they call them, “planning factors,” which are those items they think will impact the ability to increase demand for beef. They’ll be talking about the new advertising campaign – Permissable Passion – that focuses on the power of protein.

One of the things that the producer communications committee will be doing is reviewing agency proposals since the Board brought this important element of the Checkoff in-house. After the convention Tom says they’ll forward information to the Operating Committee to consider and then at the Summer Conference a budget will be voted on. A presentation Tom is looking forward to is one being given by the Meat Importers Council of America in which they’ll explain how they fit into the domestic beef process.

Lynn has been on board for about 2 months and he says that his first priority was to make the taking of producers communications in-house a smooth transition, something that I have personally found to be the case. He says they’ve added new staff to assist with this effort and that their first paid advertising will start this month in national publications, with some regional inserts starting shortly after that and some radio and tv advertising later in the spring. He says they hope to have the process of selecting an agency to work with complete by mid-March.

You can listen to my conversation with Tom and Lynn here: Tom Ramey and Lynn Heinz Interview (10 min. MP3 File)