NATIONAL CHICKEN MONTH

ROBERT VOSBURGH

WASHINGTON -- The National Chicken Council, here, has joined with the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association, Tucker, Ga., and various producers in an effort to attract more retail participation for National Chicken Month 2000, which runs throughout September.

This year's program includes new artwork and merchandising ideas; an updated Web site; and a two-tier, co-op promotion featuring a magazine insert and on-pack coupons for cross-merchandising opportunities, according to Perdue Farms' Wayne Phillips, chairman of the National Chicken Council's promotions subcommittee.

"Projections indicate September 2000 sales will be more than 60% above September 1989," he said, referring to the program's track record of growth since its inauguration 12 years ago.

The goals of the initiative have been to generate increased consumer awareness of chicken -- and therefore, increased sales -- and to extend the category's peak selling season into the fall months. So far, the plan has met with tremendous success, though competition is growing stiffer.

"The beef people say, 'Beef. It's What's for Dinner.' Pork says they're 'The Other White Meat,' and we have pork cuts out there that are as lean as chicken," Phillips said. "Both are spending aggressively to enhance their image and get consumers to buy more."

With concern growing that chicken is approaching a per-capita saturation point -- the U.S. Department of Agriculture forecasts that per-person consumption will top 80 pounds this year -- the 2000 promotion includes updated elements that seek to build on the protein's consistent annual increases in past years.

The marketing push actually began with a promotional flier sent out earlier this summer to roughly 3,000 supermarket meat merchandisers previewing the September program. Using the pamphlet as a reminder and pre-order form, NCM organizers urged retailers and their counterparts in food service to order a CD-ROM containing a new generation of visuals and illustrations that could be used to develop advertisements and point-of-purchase displays. The disc contains 15 plated product shots, 15 recipes, the NCM 2000 logo, and related artwork.

For the first time, part of the promotional element is targeted at the consumer food press, and food writers are being asked to remind their readers about September's chicken promotion.

"This group [of the media] is important because consumers look to their newspapers' food pages for recipe ideas and cooking information," Phillips said.

The Web site, eatchicken.com, has been updated with a new graphic design, more information about cooking and eating chicken and an expanded consumer database, according to Phillips. The consumer-focused site can be navigated by chicken part, cooking method or cuisine type; features a "Recipe of the Month"; includes a "Try This" weekly recipe series with e-mail reminder; and a newsroom vertical with informational updates on food safety, nutrition data, and preparation techniques, among other bits. Consumers are also encouraged to submit their own favorite recipes to the 44th National Chicken Cooking Contest on the Web site.

This year, cross-merchandising opportunities have been developed with a group of four packaged-goods companies: Rice-A-Roni side dishes, Mrs. Dash spices, Frank's Red Hot sauce and Stove Top Oven Classics meal kits.

The primary component of this promotion is a six-page recipe and coupon booklet to be inserted into nearly 40,000 September subscriber issues of Family Circle, McCall's and Good Housekeeping. Included in the pages is an invitation to visit the eatchicken.com Web site and an order form for the new Chicken Cookbook.

A second aspect of the retail effort spotlights on-pack coupons that include a mix of instant-redemption rebates from each of the four sponsoring companies, as well as a co-op with a combined value of $1.80. The coupons require purchase of chicken and the sponsor brand. Phillips estimated that the total distribution of the on-pack IRCs will top 20 million units.

Among the 13 host broiler companies participating this year are: Butterball Fresh Chicken, Claxton Poultry, Country Pride Fresh Chicken, Fieldale Farms, Foster Farms, Gold Kist Farms, Gold 'n Plump Poultry, Mountaire Farms, Perdue Farms, Sanderson Farms, Tyson Holly Farms Chicken, Wampler Foods and Zacky Foods. Phillips noted that last year only 11 processors participated.