USMEF’s Branded Products Promotion Program to Begin New Fiscal Year

Source: USMEF

Nov 14, 2008

Brand names are of increasing importance to global consumers looking for quality and consistency. Small U.S. meat companies, however, have an uphill task in making their brand names familiar to international buyers. The USDA’s Branded Products Promotion Program – the red meat portion of which is administered through USMEF – has had success in helping smaller companies gain entry and establish their branded products in a variety of international markets.

Companies participating in the Branded Products Promotion Program use their own money, leveraged with matching funds from the program, to develop export markets for U.S. red meat exports. The companies involved in the 2007 program exported pork and beef to markets that included Mexico, Japan and Europe and reported sales of U.S. beef and pork valued at more than $42.5 million in fiscal year 2007. The companies exceeded their projected sales goal — $34.4 million — by 24 percent over their projected sales and raised their red meat export sales from $37.1 million in 2006. Participation in the program is limited to small companies as defined by the Small Business Administration, i.e., eligible companies must have 500 or fewer employees, or be a producer cooperative or an association.

In their applications, all branded program participants are required to set measurable performance goals based on export sales to targeted markets. The companies also are asked to report on the number of trade contacts made at trade shows and sales of new products launched with USDA Market Access Program (MAP) funds.

The branded program is a small part of the larger coordinated USMEF effort that includes generic funding from USDA’s Market Access and Foreign Market Development programs, private industry funds and funding from the beef, pork, corn and soybean checkoffs to promote foreign sales of U.S. red meats.

Funds from this program can help companies conduct a variety of activities in international markets, including:

· Attend trade fairs and exhibits, including U.S. domestic trade shows with large international attendance

· Offset costs of promotional materials used in connection with a promotion

· Help pay for costs of retail promotions, including fees for chefs, costumes, signs, displays and fees for demonstration staff

· Help cover the cost of seminars, including interpreters, seminar materials, set-up costs/room rental, slides and production

· Translate educational materials such as company brochures and product sheets

· Retail and HRI promotions

This is not a comprehensive list of activities that can be funded. Companies should contact USMEF if they have an activity in mind that is not on the above list. For example, two of the companies participating in the program in 2007 were new to exporting and their branded funding was used for their first activities directed at international customers in their targeted markets. One company’s activities included product demonstrations in Mexico and another company conducted a chef seminar in Germany.

USMEF is now accepting applications for its FY09 fiscal year from U.S. companies interested in receiving matching funds to promote their branded U.S. meat products in international markets.

· Promotions funded under this program must be conducted between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2009. Applications will be accepted as long as funds are available.

· Companies that receive funding from USMEF will be charged a 5 percent administrative fee for participation in the program. The fee is 5 percent of USMEF’s contribution to the activity budget.

· USMEF requires a $100 submittal fee to accompany the company's request for funding. These funds will be applied toward the 5 percent administrative fee.

Companies interested in the program should contact Barbara Watson at the USMEF Denver office — (303) 623-6328 — or by email at bwatson@usmef.org for guidelines and proposal format. The application and information on the program also are available on the USMEF Web site.

usmef.org