PHOENIX, ARIZ. — Bar-S Foods has launched a social media campaign for 2010 centered around the use of social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Digg, Flickr and YouTube.

An essential feature of the company’s social media marketing campaign includes visits on Super Bowl Sunday to selected military bases to show support and rally Americans behind U.S. troops.

In order to thank the men and women in service in California, Colorado, Florida and North Carolina, Bar-S will be sponsoring their Super Bowl events, while capturing footage and photos for consumers to view online with social media sites. Bar-S will also be providing printable coupons during the week before the game on both social networking sites Twitter and Facebook — where fans can print a coupon worth $1 off two packages of Bar-S products.

A major push of the Bar-S launch is an online community web site, www.TheMeatLife.com, which is a destination for everyone from head of households looking for grilling tips and recipes to football tail-gaters looking for party tips, as well as funny videos.

“This is our first large-scale social media campaign and we have received great responses from fans so far,” said Leslie Pellillo, division vice-president, marketing.

Further integration of the social media campaign includes tapping into bloggers composed of heads of households, mommy bloggers, foodies and recipe lovers. The social media campaign will promote events, contests, coupons, giveaways and viral-videos that will encourage consumer interaction with Bar-S products throughout the year.

“The goal of this social media launch is to promote brand awareness and consumer engagement, as well as to integrate traditional marketing mechanisms with cutting-edge, interactive social media networks,” Ms. Pellillo said.

Bar-S Foods is recognized as one of the 10 largest privately-held companies in Arizona, ranking among the top 40 largest meat-processing companies in the U.S. The company has annual sales of approximately $500 million.