Digital Campaign Whets UK Appetite for NZ Lamb

29 June, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Digital Media Campaign Whets UK Appetite for NZ Lamb

UK meat-lovers hungry for culinary inspiration are turning in droves to a brand new Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) website: loveourlamb.co.uk.

The engaging interactive website is the hub of a successful digital media campaign which is stoking the nation’s appetite for Kiwi lamb.

The campaign underpins B+LNZ’s joint work with export companies, aimed at encouraging consumer preference for New Zealand lamb closer to the point of purchase.

John Mabb, UK Market Manager for Beef + Lamb New Zealand says: “Grabbing the attention of consumers who are consuming huge volumes of media becomes more difficult each year, but by concentrating on digital media we have reached millions through webcasts, the website and online competitions. The mediums of print and radio, though, are still important for our PR messages and will continue to play an important role.”

Clever design and mouth-watering photography give the new website an added edge. Styled to look like a glossy food magazine, with an updated ‘edition’ each month, users can turn the web pages just like those of a paper publication – albeit at the click of a mouse.

Driving users to the site is a new series of webcasts starring Wanganui-born chef Peter Gordon. First launched in 2008, the short online videos are a proven crowd-pleaser, generating millions of hits from locals looking for lamb recipes, techniques and cooking tips.

In the new webcasts the celebrated chef explains various lamb cuts, cooks a recipe for roast shoulder, gives tips for carving the Sunday roast and produces three marinades ideal for the summer barbecue season. The webcasts have been shared on more than 20 websites already this year, notching up combined monthly visitor numbers exceeding 150 million.

Peter Gordon’s high profile in the UK helped to further boost strong Easter sales, with 21 radio stations broadcasting interviews telling listeners how easy it is to cook roast lamb – and how good our lamb tastes.

Now the northern hemisphere summer is in full swing, B+LNZ’s focus has swung to highlighting lamb as a versatile barbecue staple. It’s the third tranche of marketing activity in a promotional push which began early in the new year.

With plenty of new season New Zealand lamb available in late January, it was an ideal time to remind consumers that our lamb is free-range, natural and delicious. And because the country is an aspirational tourist destination, a competition was launched in partnership with Air New Zealand to win two Premier Economy class flights to New Zealand . Other consumer websites carried the ‘new season’ story to a much wider audience.

This year has also seen B+LNZ enlist the promotional powers of UK cookery doyenne Delia Smith, whose pronouncements on anything food-related are widely acknowledged to hold considerable sway over millions of British consumers. A four-month showcase on deliaonline.com featured New Zealand lamb on the website’s recipe section, online forum, e-newsletter, and in two high profile competitions.

B+LNZ publishes regular email newsletters as part of its year-round promotional work in the UK , enticing around 300,000 readers with recipes and competitions. This year respected brands Le Creuset, Pyrex and Villa Maria have all provided prizes to complement the featured lamb recipes.

ENDS

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