With lamb prices still under pressure across the UK both the English and Welsh levy boards have been investing in promotional activities to drive sales.
Welsh promotional body HCC has run a two season, multi-media promotion of PGI Welsh Lamb since July. This broad, multi-media campaign really seems to have caught the imagination of the industry, shoppers and the passing public,”said Laura Pickup, Hybu Cig Cymru – Meat Promotion Wales’ (HCC) Market Development Manager.
The campaign included a touring mobile billboard, a cooking demonstration roadshow, a PR and social media blitz and a television advert that, when it finishes airing in October, will have been viewed an estimated 15 million times.
“The 30-second advert is expected to notch 15m viewings with up to 7m people spotting it on 26 different TV channels, while our consumer PR work since July has reached many more, as its £1.4m advertising spend equivalent indicates.
“The digital advertising campaign reached a total of 864,000 households across four regions in August alone and the consumer social media campaign earned 250,000 impressions across two months – a 266% in social media impressions on the previous two months.
“We know hundreds of thousands of shoppers spotted our mobile billboard – we have more than 100,000 acknowledgments from social media alone – as it visited 77 shopping locations across Wales and England and more will attend the Welsh Lamb cooking roadshow,” said Mrs Pickup.
HCC fast-tracked the two-season marketing blitz when UK lamb prices dropped after being hit by a set of external forces – including a glut of imports and a strong pound that affected exports. It was launched in July, two months earlier than usual.
“This really is a brilliant response to our campaign,” said HCC Chairman, Dai Davies. “HCC is driven to differentiate our PGI status and premium world class products from those of our competitors. This year’s summer and autumn advertising campaign is doing just that.”
Meanwhile, AHDB Beef and Lamb is launching a new £1 million TV and online advertising campaign this autumn to promote Quality Standard Mark (QSM) and Red Tractor lamb and beef.
AHDB Beef & Lamb’s ‘Jetpack Journey Home’ advertisement, which was first aired last year, returns to the screen to air nationally in November.
It will promote lamb and beef mini-roasts as a quick, easy and versatile midweek meal and is being supported by extensive digital and press advertising and PR campaign as part of a wider £1.6 million consumer marketing campaign to promote lamb and beef consumption.
The five-week multi-channel campaign – featuring 10 and 30-second versions of the advertisements – is scheduled to run from the week commencing November 2 on ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky. It will again feature the ‘#miniroast. Why wait ‘til Sunday?’ message, underlining that consumers can enjoy lamb and beef roasts as a quick, simple and nutritious midweek meal option.
Other activity undertaken by AHDB Beef & Lamb includes the student society-style ‘LambSoc’ social media campaign to raise the profile of lamb as an exciting meal option and the benefits of cooking with it. Aimed at 18 to 25-year-olds, LambSoc has attracted more than 19,000 people through its Facebook channel, along with further followers on Twitter and YouTube.
To support Red Tractor week, AHDB Beef & Lamb have worked in partnership with Red Tractor Assurance to produce a digital marketing campaign to support quality lamb. The ‘Max and Maggie’ campaign will run across a number of sites targeted at mums age 25-45 and across social media.
The digital ads feature Max and his sheep dog Maggie who are campaigning for mums to cook family meals with lamb to help keep his dream of being a sheep farmer alive. All ads and social activity will carry #maxloveslamb as a sign off.
Jane Ritchie-Smith, AHDB Beef & Lamb head of consumer marketing, said: “The issue of lamb price, in particular, is well documented at the moment and we have been working extremely hard to promote home-grown product.
“The national TV advertising has always been part of our cohesive consumer marketing work to stimulate demand for Red Tractor and Quality Standard lamb and beef.”
