17/02/08
A major drive is under way to restore the fortunes of the lamb
market in France – the biggest overseas customer for UK lamb.
The French market has been in severe decline since 2001, showing
a 27% decline in volume over that period.
Now the English Beef and Lamb Executive, Interbev (France) and Bord Bia (Eire)
have launched a three-year campaign to halt and reverse that decline.
The three organisations will jointly fund the campaign which has the enthusiastic
support of the French, British and the Irish sheep meat industries.
The theme Agneau Presto was inspired by the Quick Lamb campaign run by the Meat
and Livestock Commission in Britain during the late 1990’s.
The strategy is to re-capture younger consumers who have cut down the amount
of lamb they eat. Using a new improved range of cuts linked to simple recipes,
the campaign will show lamb can be eaten any day at any time.
EBLEX Head of Marketing Andrew Garvey said: “The campaign will feature
a selection of alternative cuts that are easy and quick to prepare and cook and
will be identified in store with an Agneau Presto sticker.
“The recipes, created by a team of young Ambassadors of Agneau Presto,
will form the basis of the campaign communication.”
Media events will be organised throughout the year to help raise awareness of
the initiative. This year alone, 60 selected restaurants will be involved in
these events and in addition, cookery lessons will be offered in four Parisian
training kitchens.
A major element of the programme will be built around electronic communication
as this media grows in popularity. It will have a vital role to play as every
week in France 700,000 web downloads are recorded for recipes. To facilitate
this initiative, an interactive website will be extensively used to spread the
Agneau Presto message to French housewives.
The recipes will be clearly associated with modern lifestyles and meals such
as TV dinners, feeding hungry children, catering for unexpected guests, quick
meal solutions and French tête à tête.
EBLEX has contributed its expertise extensively in the preparation of this campaign
including running lamb cutting demonstrations for French processors in England
and in several French cutting plants.
“These demonstrations were essential
in order to develop and present a coherent range of “Agneau Presto” cuts
that will progressively find their place on the shelves of meat retailers in
France”, said Andrew Garvey.
EBLEX has attracted the support of other UK red meat bodies, with
financial support pledged from Hybu Cig Cymru, Quality Meat Scotland
and the Livestock and Meat Commission (NI).
 Beef and Sheep Supply to Tighten
Lower Supplies Likely for Sheepmeat in 2008
Breeders Group Calls for Radical Change to Lamb Marketing
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