The four UK red meat levy boards will collaborate in September to run UK-wide activities and promotions to increase the profile of lamb.
Led by Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) and with the support of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), Hybu Cig Cymru (HCC - Meat Promotion Wales) and the Livestock and Meat Commission (LMC), the campaign will include a wide range of promotions along with simple recipe content.
Promotions will range from farm-gate banners and magazine and newspaper advertising, to retailer and butcher promotional packs and social media influencers providing recipe inspiration.
Participating levy boards and campaign collaborators such as Red Tractor, the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) and the National Sheep Association (NSA) will use a distinctive campaign logo, digital assets and a toolkit to ensure consistent high impact messaging about the benefits of lamb to encourage consumers to enjoy it as part of a healthy, balanced diet.
A stakeholder pack will also be shared with the wider industry including retailers and processors, allowing for participation in the campaign through the use of digital assets across their own individual platforms.
Levy boards will celebrate ‘Make it Lamb’ with “focused” activity.
QMS marketing director Emma Heath said: “We are delighted to be collaborating with the other levy boards in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to launch this new consumer-facing campaign which celebrates everything amazing about lamb.
“The marketing activity being undertaken by each levy board will ensure a wide-reaching national campaign during Love Lamb Week with consistent look and feel that still allows for tailored regional messaging too.”
Rob Duncan, QMS assistant brand manager, said: “The campaign’s main aim is to promote the many ways that lamb can be enjoyed, ranging from simple weeknight dinners through to traditional Sunday roasts. Lamb is such a versatile and high-quality product with so many different cuts to discover - it absolutely deserves the recognition that we aim to provide with this campaign.
“The dedicated campaign branding, toolkit and digital assets included in the pack shared with industry will mean we can achieve widespread consistent messagin, gaining maximum impact across all marketing channels.”
The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) will support the campaign with sheep farmers from the upland areas and English lowlands, highlighting the importance sheep play in shaping the nation’s landscape.
QMS
Across Scotland, QMS will have a Scotch Lamb focus on its industry facing and consumer facing (‘Make it Scotch’) social media channels, and will be working with social media influencers to promote Scotch Lamb and the ‘Make it Lamb’ campaign. The ‘Make it Scotch’ website will have a lamb focus for the week, bolstered by consumer PR across a wide and varied range of press and digital media.
AHDB
In England, AHDB will feature half a million ‘Make it Lamb’ stickers on British lamb packs across five major retailers. It will run social media advertisements on the @SimplyBeefandLamb Instagram and Facebook channels featuring foodie influencers.
Advertisements will also appear in national print press. Promotional kits containing recipe leaflets, sticker sheets, posters and children’s activity sheets will be mailed to about 1,500 subscribed butchers and farm shops. Free marketing resources can be ordered from the AHDB website.
HCC
In Wales, HCC will run a digital advertising campaign, including promotions on ITV Wales and S4C, a PR consumer campaign about lamb’s versatility working with diverse media outlets, and engaging with parent influencers to showcase the versatility of Welsh Lamb on its social media channel.
HCC said a “strong focus” would be placed on how it plays a nutritional part in childrens’ diets, providing inspiration for back-to-school meals. In addition, details will also be shared through HCC’s dedicated education newsletter.
LMC
In Northern Ireland, LMC will launch its schools programme with a focus on lamb, as well as working with influencers on social media and developing accompanying radio activity. The Commission will also be hosting retailer sampling events in collaboration with industry stakeholders which will facilitate conversation with consumers and provide insight to the farm-to-fork supply chain of Farm Quality Assured lamb. LMC will also commission consumer research of the lamb sector.
