Ibotta app campaign boosts US beef sales
The Federation of State Beef Councils of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association partnered with retail app Ibotta to promote meat to its users.
In the four-week $600,000 campaign, consumers who downloaded the app could browse the grocery category for small rebates on fresh ground beef products, unlock the rebates and after reviewing educational information about beef through a short recipe, message or video get cash back on the beef items they bought at any grocery store in the US. Ibotta currently has 22 million subscribers.
According to analysis of the campaign, the redemption rate for ground beef was nearly 40%, almost double the average Ibotta redemption rate of 23%. There were about 1.45 million consumer engagements, with beef rebates unlocked after consumers got the videos, recipes and messages. Of those, more than 576,000 consumers redeemed the rebates. The campaign resulted in more than 631,000 pounds of ground beef sold. Ibotta receipt data showed that the average user spent $7.80 on beef products.
‘Right promotion at the right time’
Other research from the trial revealed that Ibotta users increased their beef buying overall and decreased the amount of other proteins. Beef’s protein market share increased by 14%, and beef maintained a 9% market share increase even two months after the campaign ended. The total value of the Ibotta campaign is estimated to be more than $4.4 million.
Jerry Effertz, a beef producer from Velva, North Dakota, and chairman of the Federation of State Beef Councils, praised the campaign.
“These results suggest our efforts inspired more beef trial and usage,” said Effertz. “Consumers were buying more beef overall, and that’s one of the things this Ibotta campaign was meant to accomplish.
“This campaign was conducted during a time of high protein production, and our cattle industry was definitely in need of a lift because of the struggling market. This campaign, targeted to a consumer millennial audience that loves beef but wants more information about it, was the right promotion at the right time.”
In addition to the national campaign, many state beef councils contributed additional funding to promote the campaign to consumers in their markets. Through in-app media tiles, email newsletters and social media engagement, state partners helped drive traffic to the app.
This success is expected to lead to a second Ibotta campaign with the objective of driving people back to beef after years of record-high beef prices.
