World Wide Marketing
By Ashlene Fitzsimons
A variety of organizations spend considerable resources on promotion. You are no doubt familiar with the Dairy Farmers’ of Ontario Bovine Phone line jingle, or the “Milk Rap” video that has been airing on television. These advertisements not only leave you singing a catchy jingle, but they successfully create awareness and interest for the commodity they are representing. Unfortunately, groups like this are a lot larger and better funded than the Ontario Sheep Marketing Agency! But if you’ve ever wondered how the OSMA’s marketing initiatives compare with the marketing strategies of other countries, consider the following marketing campaigns for lamb in markets where it is a major competitor in the red meat industry. You might be overwhelmed at how closely many of Ontario initiatives parallel what is going on in other countries:
- The American Lamb board lists that one of its promotional activities this year was having a chef preparing American lamb on the NBC Today Show. The OSMA is currently paired up with three cooking shows airing on both Global and The Food Network. The shows are called License to Grill, Cook Like a Chef and Look Who’s Coming to Dinner. The shows have been aired nationwide in Canada, and have also been broadcast to 68 million homes in the US on TLC’s Home and Leisure Channel. Another great marketing effort from the States has partnered lamb with Buena Vista wineries. This is very similar to the OSMA partnership with VQA wines for our latest recipe brochure. These recipe cards were sent out to over 60 wineries across Ontario and feature lamb dishes with the recommended Ontario wine.
- In Australia and New Zealand, lamb recipes are featured in publications such as “Chef’s Special”, a regular publication that is distributed to 17,000 professionals in Australia and a monthly publication that is distributed to 4,000 butchers and independent supermarkets informing them on prices, trends, statistics, upcoming promotions and recipes. The OSMA has developed advertisements and artwork featured in the LCBO’s Food and Drink magazine since 2002 which has a circulation of nearly ½ million people, Ontario newspapers (through News Canada), Harrowsmith Country Life magazine, and the 2005 Cuisinart calendar, which will feature an Ontario lamb dish on the cover.
- Quality Meat Scotland found that consumers like to eat Scottish lamb because they know it is raised in a natural environment, and their advertisements featured a lamb dish against an atmospheric shot of Scottish scenery. The OSMA’s Ontario “Natural” lamb program with Longo’s features similar advertisements, with scenic shots of Ontario farmland as the background picture.
Considering the human resources and budget that these countries have available to them, the OSMA is doing a comparably good job of promoting Ontario Fresh Premium Lamb. Promotions that are working for these countries are also giving us new ideas for next year’s marketing plan. Some innovative ideas have come from New Zealand and Australia, where lamb is consumed ten times more than it is in Canada. The current New Zealand and Australian marketing strategy is a joint campaign for beef and lamb, using the slogan “Red Meat, Feel Good”. The campaign is encouraging people to eat 3-4 servings of red meat per week as a part of a healthy diet, with emphasis being placed on health benefits such as energy from iron. This is an ideal marketing partnership, pairing less consumed meat with a more popular one. Chefs are also giving demos to rural farmstays and Bed N’ Breakfasts to promote the use of lamb in their establishments. This has given us lots of ideas for partnerships and promotions that we can one day put into effect. So although we might not come up with a catchy jingle or a rap video next year (how many things can you really rhyme with sheep?), you can be sure that the Ontario Sheep Marketing Agency is on top of the latest and greatest marketing strategies.