The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Cash injection announced for Scottish pork marketing push
MEAT: Quality Meat Scotland awarded £125,000 from government for multimedia adverts
One of Scotland’s biggest ever pork marketing campaigns will kick off in the new year thanks to grant funding from the Scottish Government.
Red meat levy body Quaity Meat Scotland (QMS) has been awarded £125,000 from government to help fund a brand new marketing and public relations campaign to promote Specially Selected Pork.
The campaign, Go Places with Pork, will launch on January 21 and include TV, radio, print and billboard advertising.
It sets out to promote pork as a healthy and easy-to-cook ingredient which is also great value at a time of the year when shoppers are watching their spending, and healthy eating is high on the agenda.
“Specially Selected Pork is farmed and produced in Scotland and is valued for its high-quality provenance,” said Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing.
“I am delighted to award £125,000 to enhance Quality Meat Scotland’s Go Places with Pork campaign to promote the brand further and to encourage more people to buy and eat this healthy and tasty source of protein.
“This funding aims to contribute to the delivery of the strategy I launched at this year’s Royal Highland Show to double the value of the pork industry in Scotland by 2030.”
QMS chief executive Alan Clarke said the funding was a “major boost” for the Scottish pig industry.
He added: “This additional funding will make a huge difference to what we can deliver for the Scottish pork industry. We have a very innovative and exciting campaign which will be unveiled in January and we are delighted to be taking Specially Selected Pork to TV as part of the campaign.
“Our pork industry has a huge amount to be proud of in terms of their innovation and commitment to animal welfare, and the result is a healthy, nutritious and tasty source of protein which is one of the most versatile food ingredients around.”
He said the new marketing campaign tied in with the strategic objectives for pork marketing, as set out in the Scottish Pig Industry Strategy launched at the Highland Show in June this year.
The strategy includes an ambition for the Scottish pork industry to double its value by 2030 – a target in line with ambitions to double food and drink turnover in Scotland in the next 12 years.
Scotland Food & Drink chief executive James Withers said: “This investment will help ensure our pork sector’s reputation grows further in the minds of shoppers who want to identify products that are great tasting as well as produced to world-class standards of welfare.”
Will help ensure our pork sector’s reputation grows