Barbecue Event, Social Media Campaign Promote U.S. Beef in Japan

Funded by the Iowa Corn Promotion Board, the “Pirates of American Beef” event proved popular with Japanese consumers

To capitalize on Japanese consumers’ rapidly growing taste for American barbecue, USMEF recently hosted special events, utilized social media and even developed a website dedicated to barbecue dishes. Funding support for a recent “Pirates of American Beef” event, which educated consumers about U.S. beef and provided meals featuring U.S. ribeye and chuck roll, was provided by the Iowa Corn Promotion Board and the Beef Checkoff Program.

“In Japan, red meat is the most popular food trend and people are increasingly interested in it,” said USMEF-Japan Senior Marketing Director Takemichi Yamashoji. “Aiming to accelerate this movement and to further increase awareness of U.S. beef, USMEF has been conducting various activities featuring barbecue during the summer high demand season. Introducing authentic barbecue with U.S. beef block cuts is a very good way to promote the quality of the meat.”

A new website created by USMEF-Japan is dedicated to American barbecue

As part of the summer-long promotion of U.S. beef, USMEF held an American beef barbecue event at Magic Beach, a resort-style facility in Tokyo. Titled “Pirates of American Beef,” the event provided consumers with a host of activities that included treasure hunting through quizzes centered on knowledge of U.S. beef. Participants also enjoyed barbecued U.S. beef, as well as ribeye steak and chuck roll sandwiches.

As a bonus, the Pirates of American Beef event received significant media coverage from Yomiuri Shimbun, one of Japan’s largest national newspapers with a circulation of more than 5.5 million. It also drew heavy traffic on social media, thanks to efforts by USMEF.

Following the event , USMEF used Facebook to invite Japanese consumers to become “barbecue monitors.” More than 5,000 applications were received, easily exceeding expectations.

“The response from consumers shows the increasing awareness and interest in barbecue, as well as the effectiveness of our promotional activities,” explained USMEF-Japan Market Analyst Akiko Fuseya. “These selected monitors will post photos of themselves enjoying American barbecue on their Facebook pages. This kind of social media campaign is significant in Japan, and it will help us promote U.S. meat in an increasingly popular way.”

A new website was created by USMEF-Japan, featuring detailed histories of barbecue, descriptions of various U.S. beef and pork cuts used for barbecue and a host of barbecue recipes.