Protein Pact (People, Animals and Climate of Tomorrow) is set to launch in January to put up a spirited defence of the meat industry.
The aim is to make sure consumers feel as good and justified in choosing to eat meat as non-meat-eaters feel about their dietary choices.
"They're under a lot of pressure socially from their friends, family, all the [social media] outlets that they're looking at, and we've got to make them feel better about their
choices," said Aly Mahaffy, co-chief executive officer of Signal Theory, a consumer behavior research consultancy based in Kansas City, Mo.
Mahaffy and Melissa San Miguel, head of Americas for the Red Flag communications strategy firm, outlined the basics of the plan:
Building awareness of Protein PACT, primarily through social media, and initially with the phrase, "It's your plate."
Consumers, facing a myriad of choices and plenty of pressure over which they'll pick, are looking for that permission to order the conventional meat products they really crave and to feel good about it, Mahaffy and San Miguel said. One proposed variation is, "It's your plate. It's our [the meat industry's] priority."
The next step would be to provide consumers with more information about Protein PACT, its five pillars of successful sustainability, and how companies' and the industry's activities line up with consumers shifting values, particularly related to the environment and climate change.
The main target for the messaging will be millennials, who not only represent a huge demographic cohort that has felt strongly about these issues for years in surveys, but also are raising their own kids, the so-called Generation Alpha. The conventional meat industry wants to get on their kids' plates, as well.
Later iterations of the campaign are expected to emphasize the familial and ethnic ties consumers feel to their food, the sensory properties of meat products such as bacon, while driving interested shoppers to TheProteinPACT.org for more specific information.
Also, the communications plan is to work with micro-influencers — social media personalities who may have around 5,000 to 10,000 followers, but who are popular within certain niche topics, such as types of cuisine. Social media influencers are trusted by a majority of millennial-age consumers and provide a much-needed third-party source of trust and recommendation for conventional meat. Later, as awareness grows, the campaign may reach out to influencers with larger, more general audiences.
Finally, the program has a series of marketing initiatives aimed at retailers, such as tip cards and shelf dividers, to help encourage them to spread the "It's your plate" idea to shoppers at the point of purchase.
