Kerrygold promoting ‘grass-fed dairy’ in new global campaign

Kerrygold has launched a global advertising campaign as part of a “major expansion drive” for food exports.

A digital campaign called “a true taste of Kerrygold” has been launched to promote Ireland’s grass-fed family farming system and will be rolled out across the UK, the US, Germany and Ireland.

A household name in the Republic, the butter brand established in 1962 has grown to be the market leader in Germany – where it sells faster than any other food brand – and the number-two butter brand in the US. Both the German and US markets performed well in 2017, the latest year for which figures are available, reporting double-digit volume growth. Some 34 new product launches in the Kerrygold range form part of Ornua’s strategy to build it into a €1 billion global dairy brand “in the coming years”.

“For decades Kerrygold has been synonymous with the benefits of grass-fed dairy and has authentically told the story of Irish dairy farming to the world,” said Róisín Hennerty, managing director of Ornua Foods.

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Grass-fed grievance

Kerrygold’s focus on promoting its grass-fed product comes after tensions emerged between parent Ornua, and Glanbia, which owns 25 per cent of Ornua, over the latter’s decision to launch a new dairy brand in the US called Truly Grass Fed, a brand that farmers fear may erode Kerrygold’s position in the US market.

Glanbia has launched Truly Grass Fed in the US initially as a cheese brand, but a butter may yet emerge, the company told The Irish Times in November.

Kerrygold’s campaign features three farming families – one from Waterford, one from Monaghan and one from west Cork. Ms Hennerty said the brand had always been an “intrinsic part of the Irish identity” and was owned by a “community of Irish farming families who have passed down their farming values and methods from generation to generation”.

Ornua is the State’s largest exporter of dairy products, with sales of more than €2 billion per year. Kerrygold expects that its new campaign will reach more than 36 million people.