Bindaree Beef Group (BBG), alongside its meat sales business, Sanger Australia, has joined forces with business-to-consumer website JD.com to launch First Cut Pure Australian Beef in China.
The deal will make Australian cuts of fine beef easily accessible to China’s burgeoning middleclass. To ensure the migration to the webpages of China is successful, BBG has enlisted the help of home-grown celebrity chef Michael Zhao to promote its beef in key markets through 2016.
Specially-designed recipes and cooking demonstration videos will be created to promote the First Cut Pure Australian Beef product range online. Zhao is also set to perform a mix of private and public cooking demonstrations throughout 2016 to stir up enthusiasm in China.
It’s the first time that Chinese consumers will be able to buy chilled, retail-ready Australian beef directly online.
The deal is believed to have been helped by the Australian levy board Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA). The board’s Collaborative Marketing Program enabled Sanger Australia to develop the First Cut Pure brand and move into the China’s e-commerce market.
Sanger Australia executive Tim Sullivan said “we’re here to stay”.
“We are working with some of the best traditional and digital communications agencies in China. We have a dedicated social media agency and a First Cut team in place in China.”
An initiative dubbed ‘First Cutography’ has also been unveiled by Sanger as a way to tap into the Chinese market. The idea revolves around the shareability of food online and will encourage Chinese consumers to snap a picture of their First Cut product and share it with their friends and followers via WeChat, Weebo, Instagram and other social media networks.
This, the partnership hopes, will prevent them from “launching and leaving” and ensure success in the country.