Back to School Marketing strategies for the Meat Department

As the Fall season approaches, it is only normal for some managers of grocery meat departments to ask themselves if there are any Fall seasonal marketing tips that can be applied by them in order to drive higher sales of their meat and poultry products?

The short answer is yes – there are actually several innovative ways to leverage the seasonal issues, needs, attitudes and events that characterize the beginning of the Fall season on Sept 23.

The first step is to identify the macro events and the child and parent attitudinal profiles that surface during this season and which create a particular set of needs and thus opportunities that can be addressed by the meat department. 

 

 

 “Canada’s food guide recommends portions of meat and alternatives each day for their children ranging from 1 to 3 portions depending on the age of the child”

 

In brief, the Fall season represents the transition from vacation mode to back to school.
This transition is often tinged with sadness among children as the care free vacation
period with limited obligations and no homework are over. By contrast parents often feel
a sort of relief that the kids will be back in a structured environment and not running
havoc all over the house. In addition, parents with school age children enter into a more
serious frame of mind where they try to set up a functional family dynamic that will
maximize the success of their children in school. This involves enforcing bed times as
well as making sure they are eating the right kinds of foods so that they will have the
physical and mental strength to concentrate in class, do their homework and do well on
Tests. In addition, many parents are still worried about their children catching Covid-19 or another ‘bug’.

From the above description we can propose that the meat department communicate
the below messages to their parental clientele which clearly communicates to them the
message that they have the products to satisfy the parents above needs of wanting to
give their children foods that will enhance their children’s success at school as well as
cheer them up after the end of their vacation:

1) Meat and Poultry are good ways to enhance one’s childrens physical and
mental abilities helping them to excel at school. To do so the meat department
manager and employees that communicate with the public should become aware of the
health benefits of meat and poultry for young and older children. A couple of posters
summarizing the below health benefits should be put up. In brief the meat department
should know and communicate that:

A) Canada’s food guide recommends portions of meat and alternatives each day
for their children ranging from 1 to 3 portions depending on the age of the child.

B) Meat and poultry is a good source of protein which is very important for the
child’s health as it is needed for proper growth, for the skin, for muscle repair and
regeneration and many other vital functions. Protein intake helps keep off hunger as it
make you feel full, so a chicken sandwich for school lunch can help him avoid those end
of day hunger pains that can lead to a lack of concentration in class. How much protein
does a child need? Children need from about 15 grams to 50 grams daily of protein
depending on their age – older children needing more. A 3 ounce portion of chicken or
lean beef has about 20 grams of protein.

C) Meat and poultry are low in sugar which will help maintain the blood sugar
level on an even level which is ideal. This may even benefit the child’s concentration in
class.

D) Meat supplies Vitamin B12 which essential for production of red blood cells and
for brain function.

E) Meat is a great source of Iron which is essential for red blood cell formation, a
functioning immune system and cell growth. Low iron levels can lead to anemia which
can lead to serious learning problems.

F) In a climate that parents are still worried about Covid – 19 or have become more sensitive or worried about their children ‘catching’ a virus at school, the meat department can promote the fact that “ The National Institutes of Health (NIH) notes that zinc — a mineral abundant in meats like oysters, poultry, seafood, beef, and lamb — works with the protein found in meat to strengthen the immune system.”

G) Zinc found in meat is also important for growth. A deficiency can lead to serious cognitive issues. A three ounce portion of darker chicken will give a younger child the amount of Zinc he requires.

2) The meat department should also promote meat and poultry as comfort foods
that help facilitate the transition back to school. Posters of parents with their children
eating yummy, sizzling hamburgers with fries, or steaks with a caption like: “Summer
may be over but meats still a treat!” could convey the message that a nice meat meal
will gladden their kids.

3) The meat department posters can position a nice meat meal as a sort of
way to get the kids around the table, as often kids get bogged down with homework
and parents have a hard time getting them to the table for this important family meal. A
nice sizzling meat meal will cause almost any child to close his books for just a few
minutes. I’m coming mom!

4) Lastly, the meat department can further adapt their store culture for more effective
marketing to youth which will help counter the negative meat messaging so prevalent today.

A) Make the meat and poultry departments more ‘teen friendly’ so that teens will actually
enjoy being there with their parents as they shop. This can be done by placing fun meat
eating posters with images of famous pop star and sports characters enjoying a nice
meat meal. Sports cards depicting their favourite athletes eating meat can be handed
out as well. The effect is a positive association with meat consumption.

B) The meat departments’ take out or fridge sections can offer teen sized boxed meat
lunches in nice fun containers. The specially designed boxes can container one of several
meal options including chicken salad or a hamburger in a bun. Include some fun meat
produce quiz or game cards to evoke positive meat related feelings and many envious
friends at school who will in turn ask their parents for the same.

C) The grocery chain can invest in producing some cool meat related cartoons strips with
superhero characters that teens are into. These monthly produced cartoon strips can be
distributed to the individual meat and poultry departments which will give them out to
the teens. Superheroes such as “Protein man” and “Hamburger man” can be created
associating their super strength and crime fighting abilities to their consumption of meat
protein and other essential ingredients found in meat including Iron and Zinc.

In summary, leveraging the back to school Fall season with some innovative marketing
strategies that tap into the needs and attitudes of both parents and their children can be
very useful to help drive meat and poultry sales. The above messaging and positioning strategies will not only lead to increased meat and poultry consumption among teens but more importantly act to build up our future adult client base. Protecting our future markets – a wise investment for the future!