Bord Bia announces €1m in beef promotions across UK and EU markets
Additional funding has been allocated to the campaign to deliver a suite of both trade and consumer advertising.
Bord Bia has today announced a €1m investment in beef marketing across key UK and EU markets this autumn to support this sector faced with increasingly difficult trading conditions.
Bord Bia’s autumn promotional activities this year will specifically spotlight Irish quality assured steak in the UK, Germany, Italy, and Belgium, with stewing cuts being the "hero product" in the Netherlands.
Additional funding has been allocated to the campaign to deliver a suite of both trade and consumer advertising.
Highlights include 110 prominent billboard advertisements across cities in the North Rhine-Westphalia region of Germany; 315 digital billboards near major retail parks in Belgium; and in Italy, in addition to 185 billboards, 127 trams and buses across Milan, Rome and Bologna will feature quality assured Irish steak advertisements throughout October and November.
In the UK, Bord Bia is promoting Irish steaks with key retail partners, including an organic Irish beef promotion with a leading online retailer.
Announcing the investment at the SIAL Paris trade show for the food sector, Bord Bia interim chief executive Michael Murphy said this work is being done in a "concerted effort to meet the rising challenges of the marketplace and the cost of living crisis, which will impact consumer spending".
"During the summer, Bord Bia made the decision to enhance its regular autumn promotions in Europe to coincide with the peak in cattle slaughter in Ireland," Mr Murphy explained.
He said the launch of the autumn campaign with key Italian customers will be reinforced by the Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue’s meetings with the Italian trade in Milan on Tuesday, following the minister’s participation in the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation World Food Forum 2022 in Rome.
Irish meat and dairy exporters are back in force at the world’s largest food trade fair, SIAL in Paris, the first year the event has taken place since autumn 2018 due to Covid-19.
SIAL attracts over 7,000 exhibitors and 300,000 visitors, including key food and drinks buyers from over 200 countries.
Minister of State Martin Heydon and Bord Bia's Mr Murphy are leading the attendance of the 14 Origin Green verified members that will exhibit at SIAL under the banner 'Ireland – Origin Green' at two pavilions in the meat and dairy halls.
Ahead of the trade fair, Mr Heydon said: “Flagship events such as SIAL are fundamental to the Irish food and drink industry’s drive to reconnect in person with key customers and to partner with them to build sustainable value chains.
Mr Murphy said that the "biggest challenge" companies face is negotiating price increases with existing customers in the current inflationary context.
“Security of supply and long-term partnerships have never been more important," he added.
