The global programme will include events for consumers, retailers, trade and foodservice operators to highlight the range, quality and supply capability of Irish food and drink.
Launching this year’s programme of activity, Bord Bia CEO, Jim O’Toole said: “St. Patrick's Day is a globally renowned festival and provides the industry with a wonderful opportunity to maximise the excellent reputation of Irish food, drink and horticulture and to showcase abroad Origin Green, Ireland's national food and drink sustainability programme. Through opportunities with existing and new customers Bord Bia will engage in senior level trade meetings, online campaigns, retail and restaurant promotions, in-store tastings, cookery demonstrations, media briefings, and on-the-ground Irish food festivals, all with an aim of increasing the global footprint of Ireland’s food and drink industry.”
Planned promotional events
The UK continues to be Ireland’s principal export destination, with exports valued at an estimated €5.4bn in 2022. Bord Bia is engaging with an extensive national publicity programme in the UK to promote Irish beef, drink and speciality foods. Irish produce will be showcased to over 30,000 people at the Lord Mayor of London’s official St. Patrick’s Day consumer event at Trafalgar Square. This is a public event with over 30,000 people in attendance annually.
The annual Meet the Makers drink trade event sees 16 Irish spirits, cream liqueur and craft beer producers showcase the best of Irish drinks to 70+ buyers and other key industry influencers. In China, where online retail sales exceed $1 trillion each year, Bord Bia’s team in Shanghai is partnering with high-end imported supermarket CitySuper to promote Irish cheese, butter, and whiskey, with a weeklong promotion covering e-commerce and four physical stores in Shanghai.
Europe
During March, Bord Bia’s Irish beef and seafood promotions will target millions of consumers in Europe via well-known grocery retailers in France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Nordics, Spain across more than 1,400 stores.
On March 17, the Bord Bia CEO will welcome Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation, Dara Calleary at a trade event in France hosted by the CEO of Carrefour France, Rami Baitiéh, connecting 15 Irish food and drink suppliers with 17 members of Carrefour’s senior management and purchasing team.
“Carrefour is the second-largest retailer in France and a global player with whom we plan to develop further partnership on areas of common strategic alignment, including sustainability. This is important as we know from Bord Bia’s recent Global Sustainability Insight research that almost half of French consumers believe that more sustainably produced products are essential to their grocery choices.”
In Italy, Bord Bia is doing a takeover of public transport with Quality Assured beef advertising campaigns, tailored to St Patrick’s Day, displayed across trams in Milan.
Bord Bia in the Netherlands is running a new Cook Like an Irishman consumer campaign across digital platforms, showing how accessible and enjoyable cooking with Irish beef can be.
Southeast Asia
In Singapore, Bord Bia is organising two Irish beef butchery demonstrations for St Patrick’s Day for foodservice customers from five-star hotels and Michelin-starred restaurants. Bord Bia’s co-funded EU campaigns are also running across Malaysia, Philippines and Japan under the banner, Sustainable European Dairy from Ireland.
In South Korea, Minister of State with responsibility for Research and Development, Farm Safety, and New Market Development, Martin Heydon, will visit Seoul to chair Bord Bia’s Meat Sector Roundtable discussion with high potential beef and pork customers.
Trade show activity
In Japan, Bord Bia represented Ireland at the FoodEx 2022 trade show in Tokyo which is the busiest trade show of the year in Japan and is expected to deliver opportunities for Bord Bia clients across the priority sectors of meat, dairy, seafood and beverages. In the US, Bord Bia had an information stand at the Annual Meat Conference in Dallas, Texas as part of Bord Bia’s EU co-funded beef and lamb campaign in the US, launched in January.
And finally, Bord Bia is hosting Irish food and drink companies in Germany this month at the Internorga trade fair for the hospitality and restaurant Industry in Hamberg from March 10-14, and at Prowein, one of the world’s leading wine and spirits trade show, in Düsseldorf from March 19-21. Both trade shows will attract in excess of 100,000 visitors.