Farming Talk: Mix up Midweek with Pork returns January 2023

Now in its sixth year, the campaign will run from 23 January until 25 February and promote pork as a healthy meal choice.

Lean cuts such as medallions, fillets, loin steaks and 5% fat mince will be the focus of this campaign. Consumers will see the campaign on TV, online, in eight major supermarkets, and across social media, where we’ll be highlighting the health benefits of pork and inspiring them with delicious recipes on our Lovepork.co.uk website.

A significant portion of our spending will be dedicated to 'Generation Z’. Generation Z, or Gen Z is a term used to describe people who were born between mid-1990 and 2010. Our goal is to ensure that pork is a regular feature in their shopping baskets, as they have become an increasingly vital audience in maintaining long-term demand for pork.

Additionally, we have developed quick, affordable, health-inspired recipes like Dan-Dan noodles that will be included in posters and leaflets for butchers, producers, farm shop owners and processers. These will reiterate the versatility, tastiness and ease of cooking with pork.

Previous campaign statistics show that the Mix up Midweek campaign has reached 76% of UK households and generated about 30 million impressions across social media channels, video-on-demand and online video.

Following the recent announcement of AHDB Pork’s new priorities, we continue to focus our efforts on shifting consumer perceptions of pork, from a fatty, old-fashioned meat, to one that is great value, tasty, lean and easy to cook with.

The impact of our work is measured by gathering and sharing data on consumer attitudes towards pork before and after each campaign. To date it has illustrated that our pork marketing campaigns have been successful at positively shifting perceptions of pork. Evaluation of our previous Mix up Midweek campaign showed that 92% of consumers agreed the TV advert communicated pork medallions as a healthy mealtime choice, and 75% said their opinion of pork changed after seeing the campaign.

Where possible our marketing campaigns signpost consumers to British by using the Red Tractor logo and aim to actively promote British cuts. Over 80% of pork medallion volumes in retailers are British. As a result, British pig producers will benefit from this campaign.

For more information about our campaigns and to try some of the recipes, follow us on social media and visit ahdb.org.uk/mixupmidweek2023

Nicola Dodd, Senior Marketing Manager at AHDB (Pork)