The New Voice of Beef

The reaction to the posting of the eyewitness account of my bike wreck last fall has been interesting. It sent shivers down my spine, brought tears to my uncle's eyes, and made my sister cry. No reaction yet from Allied/Nationwide Insurance, though surely it will cause them to reconsider their finding of fault in my case.

But life goes on and it is an exciting time in the beef business as we embark upon a new advertising campaign focused on the "Power of Protein in the Land of Lean Beef."

I have long been a believer in what I call the "king of proteins" -- long before I went to work for the beef industry. Ounce of ounce there is simply no more nutritious, delicious food than beef (we call it nature's best-tasting multivitamin"!).

And now we have an ad campaign that speaks to both the enjoyment of a sizzling steak and the nutritional benefits of lean beef.

And along with the new print ads (which will run in the February issues of 35 publications including Fitness, Rolling Stone and People) we have a new "voice of beef" in our radio ads.

I'm sure everyone is familiar with the "Beef...It's What's for Dinner" ad campaign that has been one of the longest running, most recognized ad campaigns in the history of advertising. Created by advertising giant Leo Burnett in 1992, the TV ads (which last ran in 2004) and radio spots had always featured the voice of Sam Elliott -- the venerable Western character actor whose film career began in 1969 with the part of "Card Player #2" in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."

Hearing Sam's voice and the classic strains of "Hoe Down" (from "Rodeo" written by Aaron Copland), have always made me hungry. But the new voice (we kept the classic soundtrack) is more likely to make my wife salivate. He was once voted People Magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive" and has a voice to match. Listen to the new radio ad to see if you can guess who's the new "voice of beef" (post a comment with your answer by clicking on "comments" below).

Happy Eatin'!

Daren