Ad campaign promotes beef and lamb
By Isabel Davies and Paul Andersen
THE ENGLISH Beef and Lamb Executive is set to launch its biggest beef and lamb promotion since its “Recipe For Love” campaign of the 1990s.
The 4.5m promotional push will be fronted by former cricketers Ian Botham and Allan Lamb, NFU conference delegates were told.
Animated TV adverts will encourage consumers across the country to look out for EBLEX”s new Quality Standard Marks for beef and lamb. It employs animation used in the films Shrek and The Incredibles and has been tested on several focus groups, with positive feedback.
The first screening is due on ITV at 7.15pm on Mar 1 during the rural soap, Emmerdale.
The campaign will also include extensive press and magazine advertising featuring “Beefy and Lamby”, a consumer PR campaign and point of sale support for retailers.
The EBLEX marketing campaign will continue throughout the year supported by additional periods of TV advertising during the important autumn lamb season.
Ian Botham and Allan Lamb will also spend time taking part in interviews and promotion work to support the mark.
Andrew Garvey, head of marketing for EBLEX, said: “This is a huge project to introduce our Quality Standard Mark for beef and lamb to consumers. It already has widespread support from the industry.
“It will represent the biggest investment in promotion EBLEX has made to date and our research shows we have come up with an extremely eye-catching series of images and adverts to grab the attention of consumers.”
The scheme has been developed to give consumers an easy way of identifying beef and lamb produced to eating quality standards (see box). EBLEX chief executive Richard Ali said that the mark could help lift products out of the commodity market.