All the latest news from Bord Bia

BORD BIA BREXIT BAROMETER

In June Bord Bia released the Brexit Barometer: Industry findings report, route to market, supply chain management, customs & trade, and currency were highlighted as key issues for the 139 Irish suppliers that completed the Barometer.

In direct response to the findings of the Brexit Barometer and the recommended actions articulated by the Barometer’s supporting document, Bord Bia hosted a Brexit Workshop Day in September. This addressed the key risks facing Irish manufacturers exporting to the UK and outlined practical, grounded steps companies can take to mitigate these risks. A plenary session included presentations on currency strategy, buyer price negotiation, supply chain logistics, and customs and market diversification. This was followed by structured breakout sessions where clients discussed issues and strategy in depth with experts. For updates on Brexit go to bordbia.ie ✽

LEAN INITIATIVE FOR HORTICULTURE

In September The Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed TD announced additional funding for Bord Bia. Included in this funding is an initiative towards implementing lean initiatives in the horticulture sector which is commencing this autumn. This activity will build on the pilot lean project which was carried out with the mushroom sector earlier this year and will include further pilot initiatives with the mushroom as well as other selected horticulture sectors. The pilot mushroom industry lean project was completed in April with very positive outcomes for the participants. ✽

POTATO PROMOTION

Bord Bia’s joint industry and EU funded potato promotional campaign Potatoes: More Than a Bit on the Side, continues in 2017. The key burst of advertising took place during June and into early July. The promotional activity featured print, out of the home and digital advertising focused on driving consumers back to the campaign website potato.ie. The out of home posters included coverage on bus shelters, as well as DART and Luas lines in the Dublin area. There was also a photo shoot and PR around the new season potatoes launch. A consumer evaluation of the latest burst of activity was carried out which indicates that the visibility of the range of advertising across various channels and the cut through of the campaign messages are performing well when compared with earlier evaluations. Burst 5 of the campaign commenced at the end of September and ran throughout the month of October. Key activity included outdoor and digital advertising. ✽

NATIONAL POTATO DAY

National Potato Day took place on Friday 6 October. On that day there was a potato supplement in the Irish Independent celebrating the day and highlighting the potato campaign activity, recipes and key messages around the convenience, health, and versatility of potatoes. In addition, campaign ambassador Aoife Hearne also featured in the supplement highlighting among other things the nutritional content of potatoes and their role in a healthy balanced diet. National Potato Day activity was supported by PR and online promotional activity which achieved significant coverage. The industry and campaign
stakeholders were provided with digital assets to use on National Potato Day to promote the day and the potato. In addition promotional activity on TV3 included chef Padraic Og Gallagher (owner of the Boxty House Restaurant in Temple Bar) featuring on the Six O’Clock Show cookery slot, and Aoife Hearne (who is also a dietician and nutritionist) was interviewed on the Ireland AM programme on National Potato Day, while the programme resident chef cooked a potato recipe. ✽

MUSHROOM PROMOTION

The current mushroom promotion activity is a social media campaign aimed at 25 to 35-year-old women in the UK and Ireland. Five new how-to videos were published in September focusing on mushroom recipes that can be cooked quickly after school. The paid campaign for these focused on Instagram as well as Facebook channels. Going into the sixth month of the campaign makes it possible to re-target new content to users who have engaged with other content previously such as the previous how-to videos. Using Facebook’s advertising software the campaign is therefore constantly building on the learnings of each post. There was a big focus on Halloween in October with the following topical recipes being promoted: screaming pizza, skull salad, spooky mushroom pie, and a Jack-o’-lantern soup (mushroom and pumpkin). Search word advertising drove 18,000 clicks to the website in September, the highest result recorded so far. ✽

THE DAVID ROBINSON MEMORIAL LECTURE

The hosting of this year’s David Robinson Memorial Lecture was timed to coincide with the annual conference of the Chartered Institute of Horticulture, which was held in Ireland this year. It was a good opportunity for the 175 attending students from the horticultural colleges both North and South to meet and learn about the different facets of horticulture.
There were two key speakers including Dr. Tom Young, a consultant in green roof design and planting, who spoke on design considerations for different green roof situations. and Mark Rendell who spoke on gardens for dementia care. Mark runs the Step Change design company, a garden design and horticulture business based in North Wales. His expertise is in the role of the grounds around hospitals in aiding recovery and healing. ✽

MAKING GARDEN PLANTS TRENDY – HOW TO USE TRENDS TO IMPACT POSITIVELY ON YOUR BUSINESS

It is becoming more and more apparent that trends impact all areas of life, and can be used to improve uptake of all consumer goods, which includes garden plants.

By keeping up with trends and understanding what’s coming next, companies can better prepare for the future needs and wants of their consumers. Bord Bia’s consumer lifestyle trends have been tracking consumer attitudes, values and behaviours globally since 2006, and explores how these developments are driving trends in consumers’ lives. This, coupled with Bord Bia’s recently completed gardening in Ireland study, can provide insights on opportunities for nursery businesses to market their plants in a more user-friendly way.

With a view to exploring these trends further and their potential impact on the gardening market, Bord Bia hosted a trends workshop day for growers and retailers of garden plants in early November in the Bord Bia Thinking House. It included a presentation by Romeo Somers, an internationally renowned trend watcher and green stylist, and creative director of the Retail Lab at GLEE.

The positive outcomes of the GroMór gardening promotional campaign in 2017 were also presented at the workshop and there were exploratory discussions around the possibility of Bord Bia in conjunction with the industry applying for EU funds in 2018 to support gardening promotion in the following years. This discussion was in the context of other successful EU funded campaigns in the edible horticulture sector that Bord Bia is currently coordinating with industry support. If secured, such EU funds would require some matching funding from the industry and further discussions are planned with the Industry stakeholders. ✽
MARKET INTENSIFICATION PROGRAMME

Another round of the Bord Bia market intensification programme was rolled out this autumn with applications from qualifying companies submitted by the end of September. This programme provides grant aid which is designed to specifically support those companies that are facing significant challenges from Brexit. The programme provides support to companies to undertake intensive marketing activities in the UK market or to identify opportunities in other markets. The programme is open to food, drink, and horticulture (edible and amenity) companies (t/o €1m to €40m) that satisfy the programme’s requirements and export at least 15% of turnover to the UK market. ✽

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