'Whether you are a farmer or a butcher, a meat wholesaler or Scotch meat abattoir, a livestock mart, or simply a consumer of your great national meat please promote the ad on your social media, not once, but repeatedly.

Drive home the message that Scotch Beef, Scotch Lamb, and Specially Select Pork is INCREDIBLE as are all who farm and process it. Let your support be your Christmas gift to your industry

It's exactly 50 years since Noddy Holder screamed “It’s Christmas!”.

Since then, the song, “Merry Christmas Everybody” has become a fixture of the festive season along with, dare I say, the Christmas TV adverts.

So popular have these become that they are now events in their own right with the likes of M and S, John Lewis, and a myriad of others vying for viewer’s attention.

No doubt someone somewhere will have calculated their worth in increasing footfall and directing festive spending away from one store and into another.

One ad which you may have seen is from Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) so it was with interest that I read their launch press release: “Unwrapping first ever QMS Christmas TV ads celebrating Scotch meat¹.”

QMS’ marketing director, Emma Heath is quoted saying: “Television adverts have become synonymous with the start of the Christmas countdown and for the first time ever Scotch meat is to get its moment in the seasonal spotlight”.

The press release continues, saying: “Research into what makes a successful Christmas ad shows that storytelling and emotional connection matter most in a festive ad like this, which is intent on driving sales.”

So, what’s the advert like?

Well as many of you are aware, I can be prone to being somewhat robust when commenting on the effective use of UK levy payers’ money, so I asked a colleague of mine who has spent well over 30 years in meat marketing for his view.

In short, he approved, noting that QMS has already been using the word ‘Cred’ as a term within their marketing for some time such as with ‘Field Cred’.

This has been carried over to the Christmas ad with the strapline, “Make Christmas inCREDible with Scotch Beef, Scotch Lamb and Specially Selected Pork”.

In addition to some great cinematography, he also noted that the co-stars of the advert were the children and as any parent or grandparent of primary aged children knows, what they love is superheroes with superpowers.

Unsurprisingly as marketing professionals the QMS team has carried the advert onto the home page of the Make It Scotch website, where you are just a click from their InCREDible Christmas Recipes to Try.

What he really liked was the online Christmas Guide 2023 featuring ‘Our InCREDible Farmers’ as well as top recipes, butcher insights, and Hogmanay preparations.

It is of course important to note that it is your levy that has paid for this TV advert, so it is of course in everyone’s interest that it gets as much exposure as possible.

For this reason, please, whether you are a farmer or a butcher, a meat wholesaler or Scotch meat abattoir, a livestock mart, or simply a consumer of your great national meat please promote the ad on your social media, not once, but repeatedly.

Drive home the message that Scotch Beef, Scotch Lamb, and Specially Select Pork is INCREDIBLE as are all who farm and process it.

Let your support be your Christmas gift to your industry.

It only remains for me to wish you all an InCREDible Christmas and an InCREDible New Year.