Families will be inspired to cook healthy, quick, easy, and tasty pork medallion dishes with the launch of the latest phase of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board’s (AHDB) hugely successful ‘Mix Up Midweek’ marketing campaign.

Running from 17 January to 27 February, the new campaign kicks off with three weeks of TV advertising. A full 30-second advert supported by a 10-second version encourages consumers to consider pork medallions as a healthy midweek meal option.

The adverts will be broadcast on ITV, Channel 4 and Sky and aired during popular shows such as Coronation Street and Dancing On Ice, along with food programmes including Sunday Brunch. The TV advertising will reach over 50% of UK adults approximately five times.

‘Mix Up Midweek’ aims to educate consumers that certain pork cuts are lean and low in fat as this is a big misconception and a barrier to purchase.

The campaign will also appear on video on demand, in national newspapers and magazines and at point of sale in retail outlets and outside Tesco and ASDA stores. Kits containing posters and recipe leaflets have been mailed to over 2,000 butchers.

Social media activity will be highly targeted and placed in front of audiences who are particularly interested in health, tapping into the trend for New Year’s resolutions and new diets; as well as people interested in food and new recipes.

AHDB’s marketing campaigns are a core part of the support it offers to the pork industry and an independent evaluation of the ‘Mix Up Midweek Meals’ campaign in January 2021 shows it reached over 85 percent of UK households, with consumers’ desire to buy pork at its highest level in three years.

It also generated an increase in consumers saying they knew more about pork medallions, their confidence in cooking them and their intention to purchase, with 59% saying they were certain to, very likely to or fairly likely to.  (Source Savanta Post-wave March 2021).

The latest wave of the campaign, which is now in its fifth year, aims to build on this increase in consumer confidence and to encourage families to include pork as part of their midweek menu. The ‘Midweek Meals’ campaigns have delivered over £37 Million of incremental retail sales for the pork sector since 2017.  

AHDB Sector Director for Pork, Angela Christison said: “This campaign comes at a critical time for the pig sector, and we are acutely aware of the immense supply chain challenges that some of our levy payers continue to face. 

“Whilst we cannot directly address these challenges, the aim of our consumer marketing activities is to build advocacy long-term with consumers and support the industry by encouraging a positive long-term attitude towards pork. Demonstrating pork’s versatility, taste, nutritional attributes, and value ensures it appeals to modern consumers and drives sales.

“This is the campaign’s fifth year and it comes at an important time for the pig sector. By the end of 2021 pork was in 6.5% volume growth versus pre-pandemic 2019 levels so we’re setting our sights on helping even more people make the switch to pork with our TV adverts.

“Levels of British product lines on supermarket shelves are currently high and by promoting cuts like pork medallions as a healthy meal option we hope to encourage even more people to add it to their weekly shop.”

The ‘Mix Up Midweek’ campaign complements the wider multi-million pound AHDB ‘We Eat Balanced’ cross-sector marketing campaign that is running throughout January and February on TV, social media, video-on-demand, print and in retailers. It highlights the role meat and dairy from the UK plays in a balanced and sustainable diet and is being aired on C4, ITV, Sky and on-demand services.

Different versions of the TV adverts have been created focusing on milk, pork, beef and lamb and championing different health, sustainability and farming standards messaging. Pork has its own version of the TV advert along with social media advertising, providing consumers with additional opportunities to see pork promoted on TV throughout January and February, a crucial time of year when people are reassessing their eating habits.

Consumers are encouraged to visit LovePork.co.uk to find lots of recipe ideas along with useful hints and tips on how to prepare and cook pork.

For more information about our campaign, please visit: https://ahdb.org.uk/january-pork-campaign-2022