National beef campaign boosts sales by almost £10 million
An eight-week campaign launched by AHDB, HCC – Meat Promotion Wales and Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) has generated £9.8million in incremental retail beef sales, according to the levy bodies.
The campaign aimed to support the red meat industry during the Covid-19 pandemic by encouraging consumers to ‘Make It’ with locally sourced steak to support producers nationwide.
Sales generated by region were largely in line with expectations, with England generating nearly 85% of total sales – a contribution of almost £8.5 million.
The revenue growth generated as a result of the campaign equates to 742 tonnes of beef steak sold over the eight-week period. The results also highlighted the campaign’s ‘halo effect’ on wider beef sales, with the activity generating a return in retail sales of £24.7m across the primary fresh beef category.
“As much of the nation returns to some level of lockdown and is likely to do so for the foreseeable future, we will apply the key learnings from the ‘Make It’ campaign to look again at opportunities to collaborate together to ensure the red meat industry is protected.”
The campaign used available money from the £3.5 million fund of AHDB red meat levies ring-fenced in 2020/21 for collaborative projects which is managed by the three GB meat levy bodies.
More than 93% of the British population was reached through a mix of TV sponsorship, digital and social media, radio and press partnerships, and video on demand. It was also supported in-store by retailers with on pack stickers and online banners.
A joint statement from the levy boards said: “At the start of the pandemic, the British red meat industry faced one of the most challenging periods in its history, with demand for premium beef cuts dropping overnight as restaurants were forced to close their doors.
“With farmers and processors facing a drop in the value of the whole beef carcass, QMS, AHDB and HCC collaborated on and launched the nationwide ‘Make It’ campaign to help rebalance the market by encouraging consumers when cooking to ‘make it’ using top quality locally sourced beef to create restaurant-inspired meals at home.
“We’re really pleased with the results, which gave a much-needed boost to the beef supply chain and helped redress carcass balance.”
With much of the hospitality sector across all three nations facing varying restrictions on operations, the three levy bodies have continued to pool together to find ways to support the industry through one of its most difficult times.
In a follow-up joint statement, the boards said: “As much of the nation returns to some level of lockdown and is likely to do so for the foreseeable future, we will apply the key learnings from the ‘Make It’ campaign to look again at opportunities to collaborate together to ensure the red meat industry is protected.”
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