Bord Bia opts for soft sell in beef campaign

Looking at Bord Bia's new television campaign for Irish beef, it would seem Irish consumers are at a very different point in the BSE confidence cycle to our European counterparts. While they are being treated to hard-hitting safety assurance advertisements, the Irish advertisement features a recipe for cooking a steak with a soothing voice-over telling how quick and simple the dish is to make.

There's no mention of BSE or safety or any hint of safety assurance - the only issue that the lifestyle-type advertisement addresses is convenience.

The £330,000 campaign has been running for the past five weeks and what makes it stand out from the advertising clutter is that its tone and content contrast strongly with the BSE-related news bulletins and current affairs programmes. It was oddly jarring that this week's reports of the closure of the Middle Eastern market to Irish beef were followed in the ad breaks by such a glossy advertisement for that same beef.

According to Bord Bia, pulling the advertisement was discussed. "We did consider pulling it given the renewed focus on BSE," says Ms Georgina O'Sullivan, home market manager at Bord Bia, "but if we had pulled the advertisement, we would be sending out the wrong message". The television campaign was devised by Owens DDB and was part-funded by the EU.

Despite the renewed focus on BSE, Irish consumers do seem particularly confident in the safety of Irish beef. Since 1998 sales of beef have increased by between 5 and 6 per cent every year, according to Bord Bia.

Bord Bia's research into attitudes towards beef showed that consumers' chief concern was that cooking meat was too time-consuming and complicated; hence the creative execution in the current advertising campaign.

The softly, softly Irish beef advertisement contrasts with the strong campaigns currently seen in other European markets.

The French government has started a national press campaign under the headline "Why beef is safe". And, in response to its BSE crisis, the German Meat Board is running two television advertisements on seven channels involving testimonials from famous German chefs saying they are convinced of the safety and quality of German beef. The spend is 10 million deutschmarks.

bharrison@irish-times.ie