Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) has been awarded £125,000 to help fund a brand new marketing and public relations campaign to promote specially selected pork.

The campaign will highlight pork as a healthy and easy-to-cook ingredient which is also great value for money at a time of year when shoppers are watching their cash and healthy eating is also high on the agenda.

The Go Places with Pork campaign, which will launch on 21 January, will include TV, radio, print and billboard advertising as well as a major digital and social promotional push.

Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing said: "Specially Selected Pork is farmed and produced in Scotland and is valued for its high-quality provenance.

"I am delighted to award £125,000 to enhance Quality Meat Scotland’s ‘Go Places with Pork’ campaign to promote the brand further and to encourage more people to buy and eat this healthy and tasty source of protein.

"This funding aims to contribute to the delivery of the strategy I launched at this year’s Royal Highland Show to double the value of the pork industry in Scotland by 2030."

Alan Clarke, Chief Executive of QMS, welcomed the funding which he said is a major boost for the Scottish pig industry.

"This additional funding will make a huge difference to what we can deliver for the Scottish pork industry. We have a very innovative and exciting campaign which will be unveiled in January and we are delighted to be taking Specially Selected Pork to TV as part of the campaign.

"Our pork industry has a huge amount to be proud of in terms of their innovation and commitment to animal welfare and the result is a healthy, nutritious and tasty source of protein which is one of the most versatile food ingredients around," said Mr Clarke.

Mr Clarke also highlighted the value of the partnership which QMS has with the Scottish SPCA, including the Approved by the Scottish SPCA logo which can be used alongside the Specially Selected Pork logo.

The new marketing campaign ties in with the strategic objectives for pork marketing set out in the "Scottish Pig Industry Strategy" launched at the Royal Highland Show this year.

This strategy also includes an ambition for the pork industry in Scotland to double its value by 2030, a target in line with the Scotland Food & Drink Partnership’s Ambition 2030 target to double food and drink turnover in Scotland.

James Withers, Chief Executive of Scotland Food & Drink said: "This is a significant boost for our pig industry and it is timely too. The industry has shown its ambition to grow with the launch of its recent strategy and central to future success is a strong brand.

"That has been the foundation of Scotland’s food and drink success in recent years, winning customers at home and abroad. This investment will help ensure our pork sector’s reputation grows further in the minds of shoppers who want to identify products that are great tasting as well as produced to world class standards of welfare."

As reported by QMS Pork Marketing