21 October 2011

3 minute read

Europe

The integrated campaign will target consumers with digital, PR, advertising and retailer engagement to inspire cooks to put British beef on the menu for their families to create nutritious, great value meals.

Working closely with Ladies in Beef, the campaign will be fronted by Lynda Bellingham, a farmer’s daughter and star of ITV’s Loose Women and Calendar Girls.

Ladies in Beef was launched by HRH Princess Anne, The Princess Royal in March 2011, and promotes awareness of the quality and versatility of British beef to consumers using its country-wide network of dynamic lady beef ‘champions’. All the ladies are British beef farmers and proud of it.

At its centre, the campaign will feature a new interactive website www.greatbritishbeef.co.uk, which goes live in late November 2011. The site will feature hundreds of simple and easy beef recipes to showcase the versatility, value and nutritional benefits of beef. The website will host many interactive features, including video cookalongs with Lynda Bellingham and a meet the butcher section which outlines value cuts, new cuts and how to choose the best beef.

The campaign will be extensively networked via social media (Facebook and twitter). A traditional PR campaign with Lynda Bellingham in November will see national, radio and TV exposure.

Leading retailers are backing the campaign with Asda and Morrisons agreeing to throw the power of their social media networks behind the effort to ensure millions of consumers are made aware and they are also contributing shopping vouchers as prizes. The NFU is currently negotiating with other major supermarkets and hopes to be able to announce their support soon.

An advertising campaign will launch concurrently across Olive, Delicious and BBC Good Food web portals. The site promotes Red Tractor Assurance and will link to the NFU’s existing consumer web portals Why Farming Matters and www.countrysideonline.co.uk.

Alistair Mackintosh, Chairman of NFU Livestock Board and a Cumbrian livestock farmer said: “I am tremendously proud of the high quality beef we produce in this country – there’s nothing like it for providing a hearty, nutritious and affordable meal. We want to support our beef farmers with a campaign which is going to really capture the imagination of cooks around the country and encourage them to think of beef when they are planning a meal."

"We want shoppers to look for the Red Tractor logo to ensure that their beef meets high standards of food safety and hygiene, animal welfare and environmental protection and the flag gives shoppers an assurance about the country of origin By buying British beef, consumers are helping to support the UK’s rural economy and contribute to a beautiful farmed countryside.”

Minette Batters from Ladies in Beef said: “We are proud to support this initiative as we’re passionate about British beef. Our aim is to share with people the quality and versatility of British beef by raising awareness through our country-wide network of dynamic lady beef ‘champions’. We hope that everyone helps support British farmers by buying locally whenever possible."

TheCattleSite News Desk