What Women Want

Women still account for about 93 percent of food purchases in the United States, Mary Lou Quinlan says. And the good news is they feel a strong connection to beef that just needs to be reinforced with some positive messages.

Quinlan is CEO of a New York City market-research firm called Just Ask a Woman, that specializes in measuring women’s attitudes. Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health recently contracted with the firm to conduct a study into the perceptions and attitudes of women toward beef and the beef-production system, and to develop positive communications messages. Toward those goals, Just Ask a Woman conducted in-depth interviews with over 100 women from the East Coast and Midwest and uncovered some interesting trends. Quinlan and Tracy Chapman, co-director of brand insights for the firm, presented their findings at Intervet/Schering-Plough’s Cattle Feeders Summit in July.

Quinlan says women feel confused and frustrated by the mixed messages they receive about food, and they don’t like others trying to make them feel guilty about what they serve to their families. “Women want to feel in control of their family’s dinner table,” she says. “They don’t like feeling that it is being hijacked.” They just want the facts and don’t want to feel forced to follow anyone else’s agenda. Women value having the freedom to choose from a variety of meat products in various price ranges and to select the products that work for them and their families.

Many women, Quinlan says, are confused about terms such as “organic” or “sustainable” as they apply to beef. They are unclear about the differences between these products and skeptical over whether their higher price relates to value.

A message that resonates with women, she says, is that most of our beef comes from family farms, many of which have been in the same families for generations. These family farmers have improved their practices over the years and care about their animals and the beef they produce, which they feed to their own children. “There is a tradition to beef that they would like to have reinforced,” she says.

Words matter

Quinlan says the study revealed opportunities to protect beef’s image with American women by changing some of the terminology we use — to “tell the story on her terms.”

The term “feed additive,” for example, raises doubts, while the term “supplement” is more acceptable, especially when backed by assurances that feed supplements are extensively tested and regulated to protect animal health and food safety.

Women prefer the term “farmer” over “cattle feeder” or “rancher,” she says. “Women want to marry a rancher but buy their food from a farmer.”

Rather than portray “organic” or “natural” beef as the enemy, or promote the price advantage of “conventional” beef, we should focus on freedom of choice, stressing that shoppers can select from a variety of lean, healthy and safe beef products with different attributes and price points.

Finally, Quinlan says, we could benefit by dropping the term “conventional beef” in describing products from mainstream production systems. Instead, she suggests the term “traditional beef,” which communicates the idea that the beef results from established production practices proven over time to provide animal health, food safety, wholesomeness and value.

Quinlan goes on to identify three “emotional pillars” of traditional beef.

Trust: Farm families care about their animals and beef quality.
Safety: Oversight from the USDA and FDA assure that beef today is safer than ever.
Freedom of choice: Shoppers want control over their food-purchase decisions.

These pillars, she says, add up to beef you can count on.

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