The Department for Dairy Related Scrumptious Affairs (DDRSA) will be out and about later this month with its tongue-in-cheek messaging reminding younger consumers of the great taste of dairy.

Attitudinal research conducted in 2019 showed the DDRSA campaign drove an 11 per cent increase in those certain to buy dairy, an 11 per cent drop in those planning to switch into alternatives and an 8 per cent drop in those planning to cut down their dairy intake in the future.

Running for 10 weeks across the country from 24 February, this third year of the DDRSA campaign will feature on billboards outside major retailers, as well as Facebook and Instagram and catch-up TV such as ITV and SkyGo.

Rebecca Miah, AHDB head of dairy marketing said: “We’re building on the success of the previous campaign to change long term attitudes and consumption habits by adding the love and value back into people’s dairy favourites like milky porridge and new, trend led ways to include dairy in the diet. These adverts will be targeted to specific times of day and locations when they are most relevant”.

The campaign, which started in 2017, targets millennials (16 to 35 years olds) including young parents through the DDRSA, using emotive taste messages to remind them about their love of dairy.

“It’s vital we target a younger audience at a crucial time of life when dietary choices are made as a family since they’re more open to considering alternatives. The strong results show we’re already influencing attitudes and creating a positive trading environment in which to drive consumption,” said Mrs Miah.

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Farmers can help promote the campaign locally by ordering branded posters, banners, re-useable coffee cups and car stickers to use on-farm and at local events through their AHDB dairy knowledge exchange manager.

Alongside the campaign, AHDB runs various initiatives to maintain dairy’s reputation aiming to provide balance to unfair and misleading media headlines.

It’s ‘Ordinary food is good enough’ campaign (ordinaryfood.co.uk) promotes a healthy balanced diet which includes all food groups and aims to cut through mixed messages around food and diet.

They also provide evidence-based resources and social media infographics to support the dairy industry when having positive conversations with consumers, which can be downloaded at ahdb.org.uk/january-assets