Feed your family for less with British pork: autumn 2023

Our Feed your family for less campaign returned on 2 October 2023 and ran until 4 December 2023 to inspire consumers to embrace pork as a delicious, budget-friendly and versatile choice for their family meals.

For the first time, this year we were able include the term 'British' after previous restrictions due to the EU State Aid Rules were removed.

With the cost-of-living crisis, many consumers are looking for more budget-friendly options in the meat aisle.

The core campaign, targeted at a family audience, showcased the great value and versatility of pork, with inspiring recipes featuring cuts such as shoulder, mince and loin steaks that come in at under £1.50 per portion.

Some of the recipes we tempted consumers with included cheat’s pork lasagne, hunters style pork and one-pan pesto pork pasta.

Advertising

The £400K autumn campaign was seen on online, during on-demand TV shows with Sky, ITV, Channel 4 and YouTube, as well as across social media – Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.  

The campaign was also featured in eight supermarket chains, with signage in the aisles, on shelf barkers, on-pack stickers with QR codes to scan for budget-friendly recipe ideas, and online through website banners.

We continue our work with retailers to improve meat aisles, making them more enticing places to shop.

Gen Z

To increase the reach, awareness and engagement with our younger Gen Z audience (18–25-year-olds), we worked in partnership with foodie influencers Tasty UK to educate and inspire young consumers to cook pork with simple, tasty and quick recipes.

Tasty UK attracts over 18 million Gen Z users each month to their social channels (Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat), with 98% of their weekly users saying they make cooking and food easier. 

Our series of ‘Love Pork Student Staples’ recipe videos on Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok targeted this audience in a fun and engaging way. 

Find out more and view the campaign results.

Love Pork website

As part of the campaign, we also launched a new Love Pork website.

The website offers a modern and user-friendly platform with improved navigation and easy-to-follow instructions.

It features an ever-expanding collection of delicious and versatile pork recipes that are easy to cook.

You can search for recipes based on specific criteria, save your favourites and provide feedback through the website's new star-rating system.

The website also includes educational sections on pork cuts and nutrition, dispelling any myths and highlighting the numerous health benefits of eating pork.

Results

The autumn 2023 campaign drove purchase intent for pork to its highest level since 2021, with a +3% increase.

The campaign, which focused on value and taste, gave consumers recipe inspiration and helped in tackling the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.

It ran for nine weeks from 2 October to 4 December 2023, with adverts seen during on-demand TV shows on ITV, Channel 4, Sky and You Tube, along with enticing recipes on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.

The eye-catching adverts aimed to inspire families to embrace pork as a delicious and budget-friendly meal choice.

New videos demonstrated how simple and versatile pork can be to cook, with all recipes crucially under £1.50 a portion.

Independent market research before and after the campaign indicates that more shoppers will be putting pork in their trolleys having seen this campaign's new recipes and messaging.

It positively influenced the target audience attitudes to pork with key achievements including:

• 3% more people perceive pork as good value for money (82%)
• 3% more people interested in trying new recipes with pork (82%)
• 3% more people intending to purchase pork (80%)
• 86% believed that pork is an easy meal to cook
• 85% felt pork could be used in a number of dishes
• 86% considered pork to be quick to cook
• 86% thought of pork as a delicious meal option
• 81% thought that pork could help them feed their family for less

Source: Campaign evaluation Y6, Two Ears One Mouth, January 2024.

Commenting on the success of the campaign, Nicola Dodd, AHDB’s Senior Marketing Manager for Pork, said: 

"Purchase intent, that is how likely it is that a consumer will buy a product the next time they go grocery shopping, has recorded notable growth and now sits at 80%, the highest level we’ve seen in the last two years.

"The campaign’s impactful visuals and relevant messaging around value and affordability have landed well, with more people citing pork as good value for money, and a meat they’re more interested in trying new recipes with."

Support Love Pork on social media

Social media is an important way to reach consumers on a regular basis, and it’s something we use throughout the year to promote British pork.

We showcase pork-based recipes, inspirational posts from social media influencers and farmers’ stories.

You can support our marketing activity across social media by following our channels below and sharing the content with your friends and family.