LAMB SALES grew by an extra £2.5m during a six-week media campaign promoting locally sourced lamb to British consumers – driving an additional 272,000 shoppers to purchase fresh lamb.

The £440k ‘Make it Lamb’ campaign – which ran between July and August – focused on promoting lambs versatility and ease of cooking, particularly around BBQ season.

Media partnerships included radio sponsorship on Heart FM, two Mail Online homepage takeovers – generating 115million impressions ­– and a partnership with celebrity chef and TV personality John Torode, who promoted cooking with high quality lamb from trusted British farms to his 165,000 followers.

A cross-channel mix of promotions involved: Video on Demand across ITV Hub; All 4 and Sky on Demand and a social media push with 27m impressions across Facebook and Instagram.

The various activities generated a return of £5.59 in retail sales for every £1 spent on the activity and 261 tonnes of additional fresh lamb.

A joint statement between levy boards Quality Meat Scotland, Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board and Meat Promotion Wales said: “We’re really pleased with the results from our collaborative campaign promoting locally sourced lamb. We’re confident that the positive results leaving lamb top of mind for dinner inspiration will have carried over into the early Autumn as we moved into Septembers Love Lamb Week.

“Supporting the UK’s sheep sector is now more important than ever and we will continue to do all we can to stimulate demand for lamb cuts, given the uncertainty around trade deals and with Brexit on the horizon.”

For more recipe videos and inspiration visit simplybeefandlamb.co.uk.