Following the success of its ‘From Morocco to UK’ campaign, El Mehdi El Alami, director of promotion and development of Morocco Foodex, has reflected on the successes and learnings from the campaign, including the Morocco-UK special trading relationship, new routes and products for 2021, and hints at upcoming marketing plans for 2022.
The three month campaign encompassed trade and consumer PR activity and a social media campaign that connected with influencers, cookery and food enthusiasts, and the British public. In addition, there was an experiential marketing activation that saw a branded food truck cruise across London to deliver over 1,000 Moroccan taster meals to hundreds of people across the UK capital.
Throughout the campaign, Morocco Foodex also revealed how Morocco has stepped up to the plate with its fresh produce offering thanks to a new range of Moroccan products specific to the needs of the UK market, direct commercial relationships between operators, new lines of logistics between Tangier and Poole, and a new competitive situation towards continental producers. Further activity included a series of cookery videos with Moroccan-born celebrity chef Khalid Dahbi to combine Moroccan and British ingredients.
While Morocco has done marketing campaigns in the past, El Mehdi El Alami noted that this one has been “particularly special” as it was more of “an information campaign.” He said: “Indeed, there is a conjunction of facts, an alignment of the planets, which leads us to think that Moroccan food products should take an important place among consumers in the UK.”
Despite red fruits and certain varieties of tomatoes and citrus fruits already being well known in the UK market, Brexit has opened up “new horizons for Moroccan products similar to those from the southern countries of the European Union” according to El Mehdi El Alami, putting Morocco’s products on a competitive footing in terms of quality and price.
The Green Moroccan Plan, which launched in 2008 to “modernize and enhance the kingdom’s agricultural capacities,” is structured around four axes, including the provision of publicly owned land to selected modern farmers through long-term rentals, access to financing of modern equipment for farmers, the encouragement of sustainable farming techniques and the rational use of water, and the deployment of measures to make the organization of the agricultural sector and the marketing and promotion of products more efficient.
“The Green Morocco Plan has accelerated the transition from traditional subsistence agriculture to modern agriculture, oriented towards sustainable development, sensitive to its social responsibility, and attentive to the trends and requirements of export markets,” said El Mehdi El Alami. “It is the success of the Green Morocco Plan that allows us today to introduce ourselves to consumers in the United Kingdom by telling them, not only are our products of excellent quality and affordable, but they also comply with the strictest administrative sanitary and quality regulations and also with the aspirations of consumers to a socially and environmentally responsible diet.”
Looking ahead to 2022, Morocco wants to “establish itself as a sustainable and reliable partner for the UK.” To do so, it will continue communications activity and seek to “meet the British people in order to promote the origin in its entirety.”
“It is important for us that the consumer knows about this Moroccan origin and its assets through our social networks which I invite you to discover, but also the food industry professionals that we are going to meet through ‘incoming missions’, events, and participation in trade fairs and shows,” said El Mehdi El Alami.
More details on Morocco Foodex’s new initiatives for 2022 will be announced soon.
For more information:
Kelly Lloyd-Watson
Tel: +44 (0) 208 9965061
www.moroccofoodex.org.ma