Evaluation of the campaign to promote Piave DOP cheese in Austria, Germany and Italy

Title Evaluation of the campaign to promote  Piave DOP cheese as a typical traditional gastronomic speciality

Location Austria, Germany, Italy

Duration 2019-2021

Funding Consorzio per la Tutela del Formaggio Piave DOP

Context

The promotion programmes of Italian traditional gastronomic specilities are intended to help consortia communicate the quality of their products in order to promote them on national and international markets. The promotion of PGI and PDO products, in fact, aims at strengthening consumer awareness on the specificities of typical Italian and European regional products, in particular those who bear the DPO and PGI quality labels.

The Consorzio per la Tutela del Formaggio Piave DOP has been raising awareness among consumers in the Austrian, German and, of course, Italian markets. In Germany, the promotion focused on strengthening the already existing commercial relationship in order to increase awareness on the DOP certification. In Austria, on the other hand, the campaign tried to intercept the consumers demand for quality products both on retail market and in target restaurants.

The promotion campaign therefore was directed at a highly profiled audience, able to understand and share its various messages. In particular, the identified subjects of the campaign were:

♦ children, whose awareness on the meaning and intrinsic value of European quality labels ahd to be increased;
♦ advanced consumers, attentive to the quality of agri-food products and quality labels brands, and also more prone to purchasing sustainable products;
♦ gourmet restaurants, selected for their particular attention in choosing high quality raw materials;
♦ the online and offline press, journalists, bloggers and influencers, who are increasingly fundamental in raising consumer awareness on typical gastronomic specialities and quality brands, and able to efficiently influence consumers habits.

General Objective

ARCO Researchers developed a set of ad hoc data collection tools to evaluate the relevance, effectiveness and impact of the Piave DOP cheese promotion campaign in terms of reaching new markets, enhancing the image of the certified product and increasing its competitiveness and consumption.

What have we done? 

The developed strategy aims at investigating two fundamental dimensions of the promotion campaign. The first concerns the degree of acknowledgement of the quality regimes imposed by legislation and the degree of awareness regarding the meaning and value of quality labels. The second looks at Piave DOP cheese increased competitiveness and consumption, as well as the optimization of its image, on selected markets.

The evaluation strategy proposed by ARCO Researchers implies qualitative and quantitative methods, the use of questionnaires submitted online to consumers, market surveys, telephone interviews with restaurateurs, as well as focus groups with beneficiaries of the campaign activities.
CHAFEA – Consumers, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive Agency Enjoy, it’s from Europe!

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