British pork is enjoying a quiet revolution, with more consumers are planning to buy pork now than at any point over the last eight years, according to Liam Byrne, AHDB’s domestic & international marketing director.
“When many households are cutting back on meat due to rising grocery prices and wider cost-of-living pressures, pork is one of the few proteins proving resilient. It’s value, versatility and ease of preparation are exactly what shoppers need right now,” he said.
Last year, AHDB’s autumn campaign proved the benefits of keeping British pork visible across TV, social media and supermarkets works, with more people than ever saying they ‘couldn’t fail to remember what the advertising was for’.
“In a crowded protein market, that level of standout matters,” Mr Byrne said.
He explained that a major driver of this success has been our clear focus on affordability. The introduction of the ‘Feed the family for £6’ and £1.50-per-portion messaging highlights pork as a great-value option and an everyday protein.
“This resonated strongly with families and budget-conscious shoppers, motivating them to choose pork more often and to try new recipes,” My Byrne said.
“But value messages alone don’t deliver long-term behaviour change, inspiration does. And that’s where our tasty recipes and collaborations with influencers come in.”
Simple and adaptable meal ideas such as hoisin meatballs and pork mince noodles are helping consumers rethink what they can make with pork. One of the strongest-performing recipes was social media content creator Mimi Harrison’s ‘Beat the Budget’ burger-bowl recipe.
Gen Z growth
Traditionally a tough audience for meat marketing, Gen Z consumers are beginning to value pork as a nutritious, versatile and easy-to-cook protein, and, research suggests, are planning to buy more pork mince and loin steaks than a year ago.
“Our online content, especially Mimi’s recipes and simple health-led messaging, is particularly effective with this group. Television continues to play a key role and both the 30- and 10-second adverts shown during the autumn outperformed adverts from previous years,” My Byrne added.
“The 10-second format – typically difficult to make impactful – delivered impressive cut-through, proving that sharp branding combined with simple, appealing meal ideas can be extremely effective even in short bursts.”
In-store promotion
Creating engaging, interactive experiences in stores and online to grab shoppers’ attention and encourage them to buy British pork is another key element of AHDB’s marketing campaigns, which seems to be working.
“More shoppers are noticing the signs and displays in supermarkets, which helps connect the TV ads to the products they see on the shelf,” Mr Byrne added.
“All this contributes to an increasingly positive outlook for British pork and a change in how shoppers feel about pork now – nutritious, versatile, good value and enjoyable – as well as how they think about it in the long term.”
“British pork has always had a compelling story. Now, thanks to sustained, coordinated and consumer-focused marketing, that story is being heard more clearly than ever.”
AHDB’s campaign will return for three TV-led bursts of activity this year, with the first coming next month.