Meat + Poultry - June 2006 - 41

Marketing to the senses
Selling its natural beef to retailers and foodservice customers
that include Whole Foods Market,
Oregon Country Beef's image is
based on more than taste. Its marketing material states:
"Our product is more than beef;
it's the smell of sage after a summer
thunderstorm, the cool shade of a
Ponderosa Pine forest. It's 80-yearold weathered hands saddling a
horse in the Blue Mountains, the
future of a 6-year-old in a one-room
school on the High Desert. It's a trout
in a beaver-built pond, haystacks on
an Aspen-framed meadow. It's the
hardy quail running to join the cattle
for a meal, the welcome ring of a
dinner bell at dusk."
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MEAT&POULTRY

June 2006

Bob Evans began making his sausage at this
brick farmhouse. Bob Evans Farms continues
to market its products as "home-style
goodness from down on the farm."

Growing pains
A key part of having a successful
image is sustaining it. On one hand,
Moore says Maverick Ranch is not under a lot of pressure to keep up its image because it's authentic. On the other
hand, there are challenges to not become "too corporate," he adds.
Moore equates "corporate" to "bureaucratic" something he believes can
compromise the company's image.
The chances of becoming "too corporate" increase as companies grow larger, which Maverick Ranch has done.
While the six members of the Moore
family can't run the 250-employee business themselves, they work hard to keep
communication lines open and working
smoothly, he points out.
"We've worked at it," Moore says.
"As you become more corporate, just
because of sheer size, you have to work
at not getting caught up in the corporate mentality."
The Moores try to hire boot-wearing,
cowboy types like themselves. When
hiring new employees, Moore says the
company gives preference to people
with agricultural backgrounds.
Bob Evans strives to sustain its image
by not making concessions and keeping
up with consumers' needs, Cowen says.
"We have never sacrificed our quality
and taste," she says. "We strive to stay
ahead of consumer trends and introduce
products to meet their busy lifestyles."
Niman says he knows he can't make
any compromises in the way his company produces its products because
consumers will eventually notice. "If

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you're clever in your marketing and
you can get the word out about your
product, then people will buy it once
or twice," he says. "But if the product
doesn't live up to what people are willing to pay for it, then you won't keep
those customers."
Company names help sustain images, too. Technomic's Paul likes the image the word "ranch" creates in Niman
Ranch and Maverick Ranch. "Ranch
creates an image that's different," he
says. "I think of an open field with cattle grazing. [Ranch doesn't convey an
image of a product] that sounds like it
was made in a factory."

When it all clicks
It's all good for companies when
their image marketing is on the mark.
Remember how the "yellow chicken"

Photo courtesy of Niman Ranch

style food" in its restaurants and in supermarket
meatcases.
Bob Evans Farms was
founded on a rural image, which ties
in nicely with its "quality" and "homestyle" image, and has not strayed from
it. "'Down on the farm' is where we
came from," says Nancy Cowen, the
company's food products director
of marketing. "We offer consumers
home-style goodness from down on
the farm."
The image being sold comes from reality. Company founder Bob Evans began making sausage in his brick farmhouse, known as the Homestead, on his
southeastern Ohio farm in Rio Grande,
Ohio. Then, he opened a sausage shop
on the property.
"The farm is real, the man is real and
our commitment to quality has never
wavered," Cowen says.

Photo courtesy of Bob Evans Farms

Storytelling

helped put Perdue Farms on the map?
"That was a brilliant campaign," Paul
says of Perdue's venture.
Niman Ranch has benefited from
positive press because of its "natural
image," Niman says. "When [the media] takes a hard look at us, they get excited about us," he says. "We are exactly
who we say we are."
Niman Ranch has also formed solid
Continued on Page 46

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