The three-year project, worth €10 million (m), comes after the success of the ‘Lamb - Tasty, Easy, Fun’ campaign which was run by Ireland’s Bord Bia, France’s Interbev and the Agriculture & Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) from the UK. The same agencies will be running this campaign.
€8.3m of the funding will come from co-funding support from the EU, €300,000 will come from Bord Bia, AHDB will contribute €1m and Interbev will contribute the remainder.
“As major European sheep meat producing countries, we have a shared interest in working together to tackle the decline in sheep meat consumption,” said Noreen Lanigan, Bord Bia manager for France, Belgium and Luxembourg.
“Over the lifetime of the campaign we aim to increase the intention to purchase lamb among consumers aged 25-35 by 10%, increase their appreciation of the role sheep farming plays in the preservation and upkeep of the land and a 15% improvement in the perception of European lamb as an ‘everyday meal’ among this age cohort.”
To help encourage lamb consumption among the younger customer, the campaign will be supported by a range of activity on multiple platforms, including on digital and social media, outdoor advertising, consumer events, business to business workshops and events where key opinion leaders and experts will deliver its message.
“Our shared commitment and efforts to tackle the decline in consumption in this sector meant we secured a €10m deal, with an investment of only €1m,” said Adam Quinney, AHDB Beef and Lamb board chair. “This is great news - and great value - for our producers.
“It emphasises the great results that can be achieved working closely with our European partners. Brexit or not, our industry lives on and we need to look for innovative and valuable partnership arrangements to continue to leverage funds to promote lamb as a healthy, versatile and nutritious protein.”
The funding was announced on Tuesday 23 October in Paris by the Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar TD, chairman Maurice Huet from Interbev and Quinney.