Background

In 1981, I founded my firm Arnold Media Services (AMS), which is a full service public relations and marketing consulting firm.  In 1983, I was retained by Jacobs Suchard, the Swiss company that launched many different retail brands including Jacobs Coffee and Tobler  Chocolate.  Since 1989, we have also represented other Swiss companies, Nestle’s Specialty Products Division and well as the Foreign Trade Division.  We also represent restaurant groups, such as Mortons of Chicago, the Kinton Group in San Francisco, and of course the famous Fort Restaurant in Morrison, Colorado.  We have specialized, over the past 20 years, in the specialty retail and food services trade.  And for the last 5 years, we have represented the National Bison Association (NBA).

I am deeply honoured and respectful of the hard work that the producers and others have gone through to develop this industry.  It has been so exciting to watch this industry grow and for me to be part of it.

In 1999, as part of the NBA educational effort, we decided it was necessary to create a national media hook – something that the consumer and the press could wrap their hands around.  We decided to designate July as National Bison Month™.  We registered it and we have created a publicity campaign based on this program.  This has resulted in over 8 million consumer impressions through feature articles in national magazines, as well as  television, radio and newspaper stories.  In January 2000, the NBA, through the voluntary check-off program, expanded this program from 10 markets into 20 markets.  My presentation will be an update on the 2000 National Bison Month™ campaign, as well as tips for how to promote bison in your local market.

Before I begin my presentation, I also wanted to announce that as of this June I have become a co-owner of the Fort Restaurant.  I grew up in the restaurant business.  My partner, is my father, Sam Arnold.  Growing up at the Fort in the early 60’s, I was raised on bison.  All parts, including: tongue, liver, bone marrow and meat.  Bison is truly in my blood. Currently, we sell over 50,000 entrées per year, and its growing.  I must say a tribute to my father.  He was one of the early pioneers in 1962, serving and educating the American consumer to eat bison - all parts.  It has grown and prospered and I would like to congratulate him.

Campaign

Arnold Media Services queried America’s premier chefs to participate in National Bison Month.  We selected chefs that had been recommended by our National Food Editors from magazines like Gourmet and Bon Appetite – chefs that had been designated a James Beard House Award-winning chef. The twenty featured chefs have created their signature bison recipes for local and national promotion.  They were required to create their recipes using bison products that the consumer could find in the supermarket (i.e. ground, ribs).  All chefs also featured their recipes on their restaurants menus during the entire month of July.

July 2000 Featured Chefs

The July 2000 award winning chefs and some of their recipes are listed in Table 1.  Many of these chefs have won Culinary Olympics Gold Medals and are cook book authors;  most are legends within their industry; and all are believers in bison.  The recipes can be found in the July 2000 issue of Bison World and they are free to use – please use them.

Publicity effort

AMS created a complete press kit featuring introductory press release announcing July as “National Bison Month”, which included; chefs’ biographies, recipes, photos and nutritional information. The press kit was mailed to over 400 national press and select media in each chef city.  AMS called each media contact to promote the program and secure television placements and coordinate segments between producers and chefs.  A list of producers from which bison meat could be purchased, was also provided.  Post-event media release and the recent Bison World Magazine, featuring our chefs, will be mailed to the same media outlets to reinforce interest in covering the story.

We also targeted food service upscale dining magazines like Bon Appetit, Gourmet, Chef Magazine, Cooking Light, Diversion, Food Arts, Food & Wine, and Nation’s Restaurant News.  In addition, Good Morning America, the Los Angeles Times, Saveur, The New York Times and the Washington Post were contacted.

Publicity Results

Feature print placements as of July 31, 2000 included; Chef Magazine, Diversion, Colorado Springs Gazette, Food Arts, Chattanooga Times, Lodging Food & Beverage, Daily Oklahoman, Mountain Living, Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News, Oregonian - New York Times Syndicated Article, Seattle’s Eastside and South County Journals, and The National Culinary Review.

Some highlights of the campaign included: a sidebar featuring the National Bison Association in Diversion magazine; the National Culinary Review included a large feature highlighting, ribs, burger, sausage and nutritional information;  Food Arts, an upscale culinary for chefs magazine, featured bison ranching as well as recipes; the   Nation’s Restaurants newspaper “Dish of the Week” was ‘barbecued buffalo steak with crisp polenta sticks’; ‘Buffalo challenges beef in marketplace’ read the headline of The Salina Journal, Salina, KS; and a feature in Oklahoma Now – ‘Bison meat’s virtues nothing to hide’.

The following television stations featured their city’s local chef; KHNL (NBC) – Honolulu, KUSA (NBC), KABC (ABC) - Los Angeles, WHAS Good Morning Kentuckiana - Louisville, WDSI (FOX) – Chattanooga, WVEC (ABC) – Norfolk.  The chefs prepared their bison recipes on-air and spoke about National Bison Month.  Reports are still coming in and these examples represent just the tip of the ice burg.

The NBA was also a sponsor of the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) Annual Convention in Rhode Island.  The NBA had a booth promoting National Bison Month featuring award-winning Rhode Island chef, John Elkhay of X.O. Café.  Show attendees tasted nearly 500 samples of Bison Chorizo with Green Peppercorn Mustard Sauce and AMS recommends  participation at the next event in Minneapolis (April 25 – 29, 2001).  The IACP Julia Child Cookbook Award is presented at this event so it provides an opportunity for exposure to the who’s who of the culinary world. 

Additional promotion

Bison recipe postcards

To promote National Bison Month 2000, recipe postcards featuring the Grilled Bison Skewers recipe were mailed to over 400 print and electronic national press members with an additional 3,000 postcards mailed to every IACP member.

Television Food Network

Because the NBA was so well received at IACP, the Chefs Association of Rhode Island wanted to feature bison meat at their booth for the Television Food Network - Food Network Live! Convention, in Providence, Rhode Island Convention Center, April 30, 2000.  Bob Dineen of Rocky Mountain Natural Meats donated 90 pounds of sausage for the polenta recipe with X. O. Cafe donating the cost of the chef. Again, this was good national media exposure broadcast on the Food Television Network.

Bisoncentral.com

The NBA is proud to announce Bisoncentral.com – Where the Buffalo Roam on the World Wide Web.  This web-site was launched with a full press release as the media wants their readers to be able to know where they can acquire bison from the web.  Bisoncentral.com is a more sophisticated web-site than previous. 

Gold Trophy Show and Sale

The Gold Trophy Show & Sale and Winter Conference 2001 is coming up in Denver, CO, January 16 – 20, 2001.  AMS will write a press release, which will then be mailed to more than 300 national press and livestock journalists including CNN, Associated Press and The New York Times.  Invitation letters to attend the show will be mailed to nearly 30 key local press members. 

Holiday entertaining ideas using bison

AMS will create a holiday entertaining story around chef recipes using bison meat, which will mailed to national print and electronic media. This will help fill the local editors need for holiday entertaining stories.

NBA Clippings Report

Between January 1, 2000 – July 31, 2000 we have reached over 63,977,815 readers through print circulation.  This doesn’t include television.  This shows the media are truly responding to our story of bison. 

Promoting Bison In Your Hometown

How can you promote bison in your home town?  Create your own celebration (i.e.:  Farm Day): serve bison burgers and advertise with your local paper or radio station.  Invite friends and neighbors to the event. Tie in with local celebrations.  Contact local schools, churches or civic groups who are having summer or fall cook-outs, and encourage them to feature bison meat.  Contact the organizers and suggest they use bison meat.  Emphasize the American heritage angle.

Good opportunities for promoting bison include: local parades, weddings, conferences, fairs and harvest festivals, school athletic events, and family reunions. Contact the restaurants in your area that you would like to see serve bison.  Tell the owner/chef about National Bison Month.  Bring along the latest issue of Bison World and encourage them to “follow the trend.”  Contact your local press to tell them about your promotional activities and involvement in the community.

Design promotional materials: brochure, poster or table tent to give to your customers and prospective buyers.  Need help or advice? Request the promotion handbook available from the NBA office.  Share your success stories: after your promotion, let us know what you did.

Table 1.  National Bison Association National Bison Month™ 2000 featured chefs.
Chef	Restaurant	Market Location	Featured Recipe
Sam Arnold	The Fort	Morrison, CO	Mountain Man Boudies (Bison Sausages)
James Boyce	Mary Elaine’s at The Pheonician	Phoenix, AZ	--
Kathy Cary	Lilly’s	Louisville, KY	Bison Blue Cheese Burger
Michael Comstedt	Cook Street School of Fine Cooking	Denver, CO	--
Peter Davis	Henrietta’s Table	Cambridge, MA
Marcel Desaulniers	The Trellis	Williamsburg, VA	Grilled Bison Filet with Arugula, Garbanzo Beans & Spicy Peanut Sauce
Fernando Divina	Fiddleheads	Portland, OR	--
John Elkhay	X.O. Café	Providence, RI	--
Kurt Fleischfresser	The Coach House Restaurant	Oklahoma City, OK	--
John Howie	Palisade	Seattle, WA	--
Scott Hunnel	Victoria and Albert’s – Walt Disney World	Orlando, FL	Smoked Buffalo Tenderloin Salad with Honey- Tangerine Vinaigrette
Mark Miller	Coyote Café	Santa Fe, NM	Braised Buffalo Short Ribs with Sage Polenta
Bradley Ogden	The Lark Creek Inn	Larkspur, CA	Grilled Tenderloin of Bison, Flageolet Bean, Chicory and Bacon Ragout with Red Onion Wine Glaze
Efren Ormaza	212 Market Restaurant	Chattanooga, TN	--
Morou Ouattara	Red Sage	Washington, D.C	--
Carole Peck	Good News Café	Woodbury, CT	Seasoned Buffalo Stew with Tomatoes and Green Olives
Walter Potenza	Walter’s-La Locanda del Coccio	Providence, RI	--
Tom Selman	David Paul’s Luhaina Grill	Maui, HI	--
Jamie Shannon	Commander’s Palace	New Orleans, LA	--
Michele Stroot	Golden Door	Escondido, CA	--