Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) is celebrating national recognition for its marketing and PR team after reaching the shortlist for three categories at the PRCA Dare Awards:

• In-House Team of the Year

• Campaign Challenges for Scotch Lamb, Naturally (with Weber Shandwick)

• Consumer Relations for Scotch Lamb, Naturally (with Weber Shandwick)

QMS worked with integrated marketing communications agency Weber Shandwick to devise and develop the Scotch Lamb, Naturally campaign to encourage consumers in Scotland to eat more Scotch Lamb PGI.

The nine-week long campaign, which launched in August 2018, included television advertising along with billboard, press, digital, social media, radio and PR.

The campaign resulted in a 27% increase in spend per buyer and a 20% increase in volume purchased per buyer during the 12-week campaign period, according to figures from Kantar Worldpanel to the week ending November 4.

A key focus of the campaign was to raise awareness of Scotch Lamb as a simple, quick mid-week meal and independent consumer tracking before and after the campaign by IGD revealed an 11% increase in the view that lamb is quick and easy to cook with (up from 59% to 70%) among respondents who had seen the campaign.

Alan Clarke, chief executive of QMS, said: “We’re hugely proud of the Scotch Lamb, Naturally campaign and to be recognised in this way is further evidence of the incredible work our team, industry and agency have delivered.

“To also be shortlisted as In-House Team of the Year is hugely exciting and I’m thrilled that our team is being celebrated for the high standard of work they deliver on a daily basis.”

Moray Macdonald, managing director, Weber Shandwick Scotland, said: “We’ve been working with QMS for just under a year and in that time we’ve developed a really collaborative and highly productive working relationship which results in stand-out campaigns that truly deliver. Scotch Lamb, Naturally was our inaugural piece of work for QMS and the entire team at Weber Shandwick is thrilled to see it recognised at this level.”

The PRCA DARE Awards strives to seek out and reward the very best PR and communications professionals across the UK, decided by a panel of highly respected industry experts across six regions.

The PRCA Dare Scotland award ceremony takes place on Thursday, June 27, in Edinburgh.