Summary
Chicken is the most popular protein in the U.S., but pressures threaten the chicken industry’s ability to keep poultry affordable and accessible. The industry aims to combat these issues by 1) reaching key opinion leaders to demonstrate the consequences of these issues on consumers and businesses and 2) turning younger audiences from chicken consumers to chicken enthusiasts. 

Through a media audit and survey, the industry and Ketchum explored how key issues impacting poultry appeared in external channels and measured how key audiences perceive chicken as a result of those issues. This data informed strategy for public affairs and consumer communications. 

Objective/Brief

With industry pressures putting chicken accessibility at risk, the industry set its communications objective to showcase how such lack of access affects real people and businesses every day.  

To determine the best communications strategy to fight access issues and educate key opinion leaders and consumers on the importance of chicken to Americans’ diets, the industry, in collaboration with Ketchum, took a data-driven, two-pronged approach. First, a comprehensive media audit was performed examining perceptions of challenges faced by the poultry industry among industry representatives and consumers.  In tandem with the audit, consumer research was conducted to help understand what factors drive affinity for chicken, as well as measure consumer awareness around critical issues affecting the industry. 

Ultimately, results of this research were used to provide data-driven recommendations on how to navigate the complex poultry issues conversation and inform key strategic, creative, and content-decision making to educate and prompt support from consumers.

Strategy

To inform messaging strategy for transforming regular chicken consumers to chicken lovers willing to support and advocate for continuing to eat chicken, Ketchum created a survey. It explored: 

1. Attitudes and behaviors around eating chicken and other key proteins. 

1. Generational differences in preferences and perceptions of chicken (with a particular focus on Gen Z).  

1. Audience awareness and understanding of key issues. 

1. Predictive modeling to determine drivers of love for chicken.

The predictive modeling component was a Shapley regression (approximated by relative importance analysis for computational ease) analysis that generated importance scores out of 100 for all variables impacting love for chicken. The regression analysis gave Ketchum a nuanced understanding of stated vs. derived importance: what respondents say is important vs. what actually is important based on statistical analysis. Ketchum also investigated derived importance vs. performance: how chicken performs on the aspects that are actually important to drive desired outcomes. 

In addition to surveying consumers and using predictive modeling, Ketchum also developed an issues baselining audit reviewing external channels – including social media, news and key opinion leaders to:  

1. Provide a comprehensive overview of the public affairs issues and how they are perceived.  

1. Establish baselines to understand the current state of the industry’s issue topics, identify key opinion leaders and compare the performance of said topics. 

Execution/Implementation

The industry was initially concerned with growing pressure around key issues. The analysis of social media conversation, news coverage, and content from key opinion leaders over the course of a year within the issues audit revealed which issues were actually generating the most notable shifts in volume trends; the themes, channels, and audiences driving conversations; and which voices were the most active and influential in the conversation.  

Deep dives into the areas of interest were complemented by a deep dive into issues related to chicken were discussed on TikTok and other social media platforms. This informed communications strategy for key social media accounts.  

Via the survey, the industry was able to deepen their understanding of the public affairs landscape while also investigating how to drive love for chicken to create a consumer base that is willing to advocate against industry issues. Survey questions were split between two key areas which then informed different strategies: 

1. Protein perceptions and generational differences: identify key differences for the lover of chicken audiences and then leverage the audience insights to inform audience-centric creative concepts.  

1. Public affairs knowledge: use data on industry perceptions and issues to create a communications strategy reaching previously identified audiences to fill the gaps in their knowledge and impact their attitudes toward these issues.

Effectiveness of Assignment

Using the results of the survey and media audit, Ketchum was able to make data-informed recommendations and refine the overall communications strategy in multiple ways: 

1. We identified traditional media as a key channel for addressing issues. The media audit found that traditional media, not social media conversation, were connecting the dots between increased issue scrutiny and the negative impacts on chicken production. Engaging with traditional media could influence how these issues are being portrayed in the public eye. 
2. We reinforced our social media strategy with data. Farmers were a potential option for influencers to utilize on TikTok, and the survey results confirmed that farmers were one of the most trusted sources of information about chicken, especially among Gen Z. 
3. We homed in on Gen Z as a key target for social media messaging and content. The survey showed that protein is falling out of favor with Gen Z, and the industry needs to do more work to tell its story in a way that is relevant to a new generation. 
4. We ensured our educational web and social content focuses on areas with clear, simple stories to tell. The issues audit uncovered that consumers only cared about what was tangible to them (namely, price). Any messaging would have to have a clear connection and throughline for consumers to understand and resonate with. Health related issues were also identified as an entry point because of consumer concern. 
5. We discovered that love for chicken is currently driven by attributes like ‘nutritious,’ ‘affordability’ and ‘reliability.’ While association with these attributes are important to maintain in culturally relevant ways, predictive modeling also found messaging around ‘indulgence’ and ‘exciting’ as a hidden opportunity. Because of this, the industry is working towards connecting key messages around functionality and emotion to position chicken as an everyday indulgence.