A supporting micro-influencer campaign to encourage more realistic/less staged imagery posted from gyms drove social engagement, while a competition across social channels to win sweat-activated t-shirts featuring motivational slogans further drove the campaign message home.

To reach our over 55s audience we focussed on the lack of knowledge around the importance of exercise for maintaining bone density as we age. With a strategic focus on broadcast media to reach the older age group, we landed our spokesperson on GMB and Sky Sunrise, with 9 BBC and 2 national stations picking up the story. Editorial coverage in national and regional print and older lifestyle media amplified reach.

Our aim was to use the scientific data on the leanness of pigs to start a conversation about how outdated these terms are and raise awareness of pork as a low fat option. (Pork medallions are now 44% leaner than they were in the 1970s, and contain less fat than skinless chicken breast!)

Given that the pork consumption was in decline across all segments of the population (except over 65s) we had a broad target audience – adults 18 to 64 – requiring a mass media approach. This was established by using Kantar Worldpanel data which showed that pork consumption was falling across all age groups under 65.

The very fact that pork medallions are lower in fat than chicken felt like a headline grabbing stat. But sensitivities within the farming community meant that going head-to-head with chicken for the low fat world title wasn’t an option. So we decided to tackle the root cause of the problem by challenging society’s ingrained perceptions of pigs instead.

‘Fat Pig.’ ‘Greedy Pig.’ Pig-Out.’ ‘Porker’. ‘Eat like a pig.’ With the animals themselves seen by society as fat and greedy it’s no wonder that their meat is viewed as fatty and unhealthy too. Our aim was to use the scientific data on the leanness of pigs to start a conversation about how outdated these terms are and raise awareness of pork as a low fat option.

Step forward East Anglian pig farmer Fergus Howie. 20 years of working with AHDB and the farming industry has taught us that sometimes stories work best when they come from the grass roots. So, we teamed up with Fergus to co-author a strongly worded letter to the Oxford English Dictionary. Fergus pointed out that terms like ‘fat pig’ and ‘pig out’ were outdated and should be removed as they were damaging to the livelihoods of pig farmers.

To ensure the story grew organically we seeded the news into Fergus’ local media first and let it develop from there (with a little help from us.) The story soon hit the Mail online, spiralled and took off.

Good Morning Britain were quick to get behind the story, as were BBC Breakfast, Daily Mail, The Times and The Sun to name but a few.

The campaign generated the widespread coverage and debate we were briefed to achieve with 109 articles and pieces of broadcast coverage. Third party evaluation by Gorkana showed that the campaign reached 45% of all UK adults.

And the story certainly started the conversations:

The award winning creative saw ghostly life-sized silhouettes of ‘Tommies’ installed in four key locations across the UK. 

Each location was chosen because the area had a significant connection to WW1. Hearts Football Club for example had lost seven First Team players during the Battle of the Somme, while the Tower of London had been home to the Poppies in the Tower in 2014.

The iconic image of the soldier, with head slightly bowed in remembrance, communicates a simple message; we must never forget the great sacrifice made. It also reminds us that whilst many never came back, they are with us always. They are there, but not there. 

To maximise broadcast exposure for the campaign, we approached Remembered Patron, General The Lord Dannatt and Birdsong novelist Sebastian Faulks, to front the campaign as spokespeople and leveraged their ‘celebrity’ to hook national media. We were critically aware when selecting our spokespeople that they should have a genuine connection to the armed forces and be truly authentic.

Ahead of our launch day, we sent our team to the four launch locations, to ensure we had imagery and B-Roll ready to go for launch. On the launch day itself, we deployed our B-Roll and spokespeople, hitting every national broadcast outlet in the UK.