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three ways; at the emotional level, at the rational level and at the convenience level.
In Great Britain the emotional advertising campaign under the title “The Recipe For Love” started in 1994
against a background of consumer concem about the relevance of meat. From that point in time with regular
promotional activity in parallel with similar activity for beef and pork on the British market we were able to
demonstrate a tum round in consumer attitudes and record more positive reactions to our products.
Fig 2. Red meat image improving over time.
Towards the end of 1995 a second campaign based on rational messages was launched which featured meat in
contrast with other foods challenging consumers to think about the amount of fat in lean meat and the amount of
iron in meat. This rational campaign built on the early successes of the emotional campaigns; the main
execution differences were that this featured adverts in daily newspapers and did not feature television.
The message of convenience and relevance to modem styles was tackled in 2000 when a new campaign was
built around a particularly British comedy character called Tim Nice But Dim who was featured in a number of
TV commercial. There demonstrated the ease and versatility of meat, and was particularly relevant to lamb. In
the Autumn of 2000 a major integrated campaign was launched which involved the use of TV, MLC’s
meatmatters website, PR activity with food writers and food chefs, the production of a recipe booklet linked to
the TV adverts and a wide range of activity in retailers and independent butchers in support of the meal ideas
and images shown on television. The whole focus of this campaign was to attract younger consumers to lamb
and early results suggest that we were successful with volume sales of ffying and grilling lamb (the target)
increasing by 10.6% as a result. Sadly the foot and mouth crisis at the beginning of 2001 severely damaged the
supplies of British lamb onto the retail market. Nevertheless a second campaign in September 2001 used the
same character and approach but also incorporating a number of additional TV adverts which reinforced the
importance of meat and the countryside.
There is and needs to be a regular flow of new product ideas onto the market every year if eat food and
particularly meat is constantly refreshed and put in front of an ever demanding public. The Meat and Livestock
Commission does not own factories or handle meat products but through its sponsorship and development
programmes it is able to encourage manufacturers within the British industry to develop new recipe and dish
ideas. Each year a meat award competition is held which attracts large numbers of products from across the
industry from all three species. In 1994 the number entering the competition was below 40, whereas this year
we fmished with 190 new products coming forward for the judging in June. Product development and
innovation is particularly difficult for lamb because of all the red meats it is particularly expensive and is unable
to compete in mainstream process products with imports from third countries.
SUMMARY
In the next 10 years the European sheep sector will face severe challenges. Increased world trade will open the
European market to direct competition form around the world. At the same time these competitive forces will