It's Good To Be Jerky

Brandweek, August 7, 2000 by Sonia Reyes

Buoyed by explosive growth, distribution beyond convenience stores and lots of ad hype, beef jerky has a whole new image.

Beef jerky has a lot more going for it these days than the worn-out image of acne-prone teenagers raiding convenience store counters for the nutritionless snack. Suddenly hip with young people and viewed by adults as healthy and flavorful, jerky has exploded into a $470 million business on the back of double-digit growth, becoming the fastest-growing snack segment in the past five years.

The growth has come as leading jerky makers Goodmark Foods, Bridgford Foods and Oh Boy! Oberto, along with a host of Internet companies, have beefed up marketing to attract new consumers, launching multimillion-dollar ad campaigns on TV, radio and print with tie-ins to country music, extreme sports and car racing. As jerky has been reformulated to become leaner and more flavorful, manufacturers are repackaging it in everything from single-serve baggies for placement on clip-strips, to family-size bags and canisters. In the process, they have propelled jerky beyond convenience store counters to the supermarket snack aisle, where many retailers are convinced it will stay.

For the category leader, Goodmark Foods, Raleigh, N.C., the challenge has been to maintain the in-your-face image it has built up for Slim Jim meat sticks, while marketing other jerky brands in the Goodmark portfolio--including Pemmican, Penrose and Rough Cut--to a slightly older audience. Jeff Slater, vp-marketing, said the company's strategy is to "bridge consumers' taste transition" from Slim Jim to the other brands. "Focusing on the right demo is critical," Slater said. "Young people go for the more processed Slim Jim sticks, but as their taste buds mature and they look for a more natural-style jerky, they buy Pemmican."

Goodmark pioneered the irreverent branding of jerky back in 1996 with a series of TV commercials for Slim Jim involving country singers and professional wrestlers like Randy "Macho Man" Savage, who gained the attention of young males by shouting the tagline, "Eat me!" More recently the Macho Man has been delivering voiceovers in a TV ad campaign, via longtime agency North Castle Partners, Stamford, Conn., featuring Slim Jim Guy--a snickering character who, in one spot, wreaks havoc inside a young boy's stomach. "A consistent ad campaign that focuses on male teens is a vital part of our effort with Slim Jim," said Slater. "Our customers identify with Slim Jim Guy. He's all about attitude."

With its familiar, pencil-shaped meat sticks in Spicy, Nacho, Tabasco and Mild flavors, Slim Jim appeals to male teens and their rough-and-tumble lifestyles, Slater said. That was the rationale behind the company's 1997 signing of freestyle biker Dave Mirra, who continues to wear the the Slim Jim logo on his helmet while promoting the brand at trade shows and signing events. "The Slim Jim image is kind of extreme," said Circe Wallace, account executive at La Familie, the Carlsbad, Calif.-based agency that represents Mirra. "The alliance is an attempt to appeal to a growing demographic of young, savvy Gen X and Gen Y consumers who live energetically."

Indeed, sales of Slim Jim leapt 31% to $44 million through May 21, while the category surged 27% overall last year, per Information Resources Inc. In 1999, Goodmark spent $5.6 million on TV ads for the brand, per Competitive Media Reporting.

In March, the company expanded its media budget to launch the first TV and radio effort on its 6-SKU Pemmican brand, a $4 million effort via North Castle Partners, targeted to males 18 to 34. While the ads position Pemmican as a food for survival, they are as irreverent in their humor--if somewhat toned down--as the Slim Jim ads. The three TV commercials are wry, country-music sendups narrated with enough twang to match Pemmican's Sweet Mesquite, Spicy Teriyaki and Sweet and Hot flavors. Each commercial depicts a young man suffering from a list of tragedies involving his dog, girlfriend and pickup truck.

"My pickup's busted, my marriage rusted. She sent me on my way," begins one spot, which features a man driving down the highway, chomping on Pemmican, with his dog and personal belongings in the back of his truck. In the ensuing moments, his dog chews on the string securing everything to the truck. When the string breaks, his stuff--and then dog--go flying. "But I got my stuff, and my dog, so I'm OK. I need some help to get me through my day."

With Goodmark leading the way, other brands have begun to strike off-beat chords in their marketing efforts. Earlier this year, snack giant Frito-Lay catapulted a small Seattle company, Oh Boy! Oberto, to national prominence by taking the family-owned business into Frito-Lay's formidable distribution channels. Oberto promptly went from scant marketing during its 82-year history to its first national campaign, a $7 million radio effort in April via Suissa Miller, L.A., that introduced a wacky daredevil "Grandma Oberto" character announcing: "You want to be like Grandma? Better eat your Oh Boy! Oberto!"