The Rowland Company is set to cream over pounds 200,000 in fees from a
contract to run the new promotional body The Butter Initiative.
The agency, which managed public relations for the defunct Butter
Council for 11 years, was appointed by the new body’s sole sponsor
Anchor Foods.
Rowland presented the idea of reviving a generic PR body to Anchor Foods
- maker of the UK’s top selling butter - following the closure of The
Butter Council last December.
Anchor Foods managing director Fernando Guerra and Rowland
representatives launched the body to health professionals, the catering
industry and the grocery trade last Friday.
A team of five staff, headed by business group director James Laird,
will run a full time press office dealing with media enquiries.
Rowland will also launch proactive campaigns to promote the consumption
of butter as part of a balanced diet in the light of intense competition
from margarine and butter alternatives.
According to Rowland managing director Beverley Kaye the agency is
aiming for a ‘closer dialogue’ with health professionals and is
producing information leaflets for doctor’s surgeries.
‘We stepped back to see what we had achieved in fighting the myths about
butter and how invaluable it all was,’ said Kaye on the continuation of
Rowland’s campaigning work for the butter industry.
The Butter Council, set up to promote butter on behalf of all UK butter
suppliers in 1954, was closed due to the withdrawal of funding by milk
producers.
