Millions Witness HCC Marketing Blitz to Boost Welsh Lamb

Millions in Wales and England have been involved in HCC’s two season, multi-media promotion of PGI Welsh Lamb since its launch date in July.

The campaign included a touring mobile billboard, a cooking demonstration roadshow, a PR and social media blitz and a television advert that, when it finishes airing in October, will have been viewed an estimated 15 million times.

“Our broad, multi-media campaign really seems to have caught the imagination of the industry, shoppers and the passing public,” said Laura Pickup, Hybu Cig Cymru - Meat Promotion Wales’ (HCC) Market Development Manager.

“The 30-second advert is expected to notch 15 million viewings with up to 7 million people spotting it on 26 different TV channels, while our consumer PR work since July has reached many more, as its £1.4 million advertising spend equivalent indicates.

“The digital advertising campaign reached a total of 864,000 households across four regions in August alone and the consumer social media campaign earned 250,000 impressions across two months – a 266 per cent increase in social media impressions on the previous two months.

“We know hundreds of thousands of shoppers spotted our mobile billboard - we have more than 100,000 acknowledgments from social media alone - as it visited 77 shopping locations across Wales and England and more will attend the Welsh Lamb cooking roadshow,” said Mrs. Pickup.

Now HCC is hoping for further consumer acknowledgment from its latest marketing initiative, an on-pack brand competition that offers the winners a seven-night trip to Antigua for two, staying at one of the Caribbean’s finest hotels. The sticker will feature on Welsh Lamb products at butchers and supermarkets and allows purchasers to submit a unique code for their chance to be the lucky winner.

HCC fast-tracked the two-season marketing blitz when UK lamb prices dropped after being hit by a set of external forces - including a glut of imports and a strong pound that affected exports. It was launched in July, two months earlier than usual.

“This really is a brilliant response to our campaign,” said HCC Chairman, Dai Davies. “HCC is driven to differentiate our PGI status and premium world class products from those of our competitors. This year’s summer and autumn advertising campaign is doing just that.”

The early weeks of September have marked the halfway stage in the campaign and the marketing emphasis has changed from “Summer Llovin’”- a barbecue based promotion to help summer sales in July and August - to the autumn/winter campaign around hearty, wholesome recipes featuring PGI Welsh Lamb and PGI Welsh Beef.

The shopper-focused supermarket roadshow is currently visiting Waitrose, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda stores as far afield as Wrexham, Exeter and Berkshire. Staffed by expert cooks, it will give shoppers a chance to taste a range of tempting, easy-to-cook Welsh Lamb recipes until its conclusion in late November.