What got us talking from the IMS Marketing Workshop in Dublin
This month saw the annual industry event, the IMS Marketing Workshop, hosting the international meat marketing community in Dublin, Ireland, to share organisations’ advertising and communications programmes and share industry-focussed topics.
GMA's Eleanor Luther was in Dublin to attend the workshop and recorded reaction and thoughts whilst on the ground.
AHDB present their new ‘Feed your Family for Less’ pork campaign
Marketing in a Recession: The first half of the year was said to be slow, and it still remains tough times to engage the consumer. The impact of the cost of living crisis can be felt everywhere in the world, and AHDB’s David Swales reminded us in particular of consumer trends in the UK showing this equating to more home-cooked meals rather than eating out, and shoppers trying to buy leaner cuts of meat that go further in home cooking. Canada Beef shared their very ethical-focused campaign ‘Burger it Forward’ which gave restaurants the opportunity to sell a burger where $1 of the profits went to Canadian Foodbanks. Despite the recession, there was a real emphasis that philanthropic campaigns are doing well and shows that people are thinking of those even worse off than themselves in these difficult times. In Northern Ireland, the ‘Livestock & Meat Commission shared the success of their in-school demonstrations’ and how cooking meat from a young age can spur on and inspire generations that other countries could emulate.
Barriers to Meat Consumption: This is a major front-of-mind topic this year, and needing to understand the trends of modern day consumer as to what is putting them off increased meat consumption. In this session, as well as GMA’s Eleanor Luther presenting, speakers included the Dublin Declaration scientists, and AHDB’s Liam Byrne, who shared the transparent focus for 2024 and beyond. This includes ‘changing the narrative,’ and levelling foods for their micronutrient value to provide more meaningful environmental footprint comparisons moving forwards.
Declan Troy and Frederic Leroy were the scientists talking to the findings of the Dublin Declaration, and the key takeaway from what the science says about the societal role of meat, is that the messaging about the world’s diet has been wrong all along! EAT Lancet and others who frequently have a platform to share powerful information, have been incorrectly sharing imbalanced news for years that are not backed up by science, and that now it has been endorsed at at extremely high level. We have event opportunities, Ministerial negotiations and hopefully a large scale opportunity in Denver 2024 for the next Societal Role of Meat event, to share the correct messages of the papers’ findings and opposed these incorrect messages.
Development and Potential of Meat Consumption: The third and final session of the workshop saw presentations on where opportunities are for meat consumption and how we can unite to deliver on this with our Marketing expertise and by coming together with one shared voice. Canada Beef shared a forward-thinking barcode scanning programme whereby consumers use QR codes in scanning and purchasing meat, which got us all thinking about the power of AI and automation moving forwards in meat purchasing. Meat & Livestock Australia shared their second presentation of the workshop, this time on the target market growth area of South-East Asia, and how as a region this is relatively untapped in affluence for red meat. Affluence here drives modernisation of retail and sophisticated modern supermarkets which are looking to stock Western diet choices as well as regional cuisine. As well as hearing from GIRA on the Sub Saharan Africa region and how resource rich countries within the continent are rising in terms of demographic growth, it left us thinking about key regions to target and how to rethink exports and marketing opportunities.
Closing Session 3 it was clear that we need to be positive about our position in consumer’s trust and perception, and be excited for the new opportunities around emerging markets and trends. Meat remains a trusted food group to consumers, and some sessions indicated the plant-based competitors have had their bubble burst recently and this is the time for the sector to regain its position in the food chain.
“Meat that is suitable for every day meals and value for money, have to remain front of mind for red meat consumer campaigns”
As we look ahead to 2024, we need to be positive about red meat consumption, look to new opportunities and learn from the huge successful campaigns shared by some of the organisations in Dublin. Many have found ways to champion ease of cooking, value for money, and the new love for home meals as well as be commercially exciting and engaging.
In the meantime, we hope for continued and growing appetite from consumers for red meat in all its forms globally. GMA look forward to sharing more information and ongoing findings from gatherings of this kind in the following year and beyond, and are excited to connect with those of you on the ground.