Newly released marketing data from Adimo reveals significant growth in engagement, sales conversion and price comparison activity for British meat-free brands, which have seen a 108% YOY uplift in engagement in Q1 of 2022 due to effective marketing activity.
The research finds that the sales conversion rate for meat-free brand activity stands at 14.12% this year — more than double the average for food brand activity of up to 7% — with organic searches as one of the highest converting for the meat-free category at 24.6%, followed by Paid Social, Display, Video and Paid Search respectively.
Notable ad campaigns and marketing strategies over recent months within the plant-based category include: VFC’s many campaigns and witty social media engagement; LoveRaw’s mockumentary; Oatly’s OOH / online / TV ad campaign THE NEW NORM&AL SHOW; several humorous online and offline campaigns by THIS; as well as countless Veganuary campaigns such as this year’s Adopt a Carnivore campaign by Oumph! (and let’s not forget Oumph’s Halloween Human Meat Plant-Based Burger Campaign of last year, which was named by AdWeek as one of the top 5 plant-based campaigns of 2021).
The top 5 converting channels according to Adimo:
- Organic search – 25.92%
- Paid social – 22.64%
- Display – 17.01%
- Video – 16.21%
- Paid Search – 5.87%
Gavin Stirrat, COO at Adimo comments: “National campaigns such as Veganuary and the recent National Vegetarian Week clearly led to an increase in online engagement with meat-free brands and ultimately an uplift in online sales. However, our shoppable marketing data reveals that beyond these spikes there is a consistent upward trend in consumer interest and engagement in vegetarian food.”
“With more brands entering this space and becoming more widely available, we are also seeing a rise in the number of consumers shopping around and comparing prices across retailers. Price comparison behavior in this category is up 98% year-on-year, which could be indicative of the ongoing cost of living crisis, but also demonstrates the need for brand marketers to ensure they are reaching these audiences across all their marketing touchpoints with compelling offers that drive immediately to a purchase opportunity,” adds Stirrat.
Gill Riley, Marketing Director at Quorn Foods UK, states: “We have been producing meat-free alternatives for over 36 years and are encouraged by the high growth in engagement with the category, as seen within Adimo’s data. The high category conversion rates revealed today indicate this is not just a seasonal fad, driven by campaigns like Veganuary, but an ongoing shift in the UK’s eating habits.”
