Strategic Sea Food Brand Marketing Project for NUI Galway Masters in Marketing Students

Background:

“The ocean provides us with tremendous and often unseen economic, social and cultural benefits; it acts as a vast highway for commerce, it provides a place for recreation and, importantly, it supplies food or income for 2.6 billion people worldwide. Today, however, the ancient tradition of fishing has in many cases left in its wake dangerously depleted fish stocks and an ecosystem whose balance has been sufficiently tipped to jeopardize the existence of a number of key species.” (WWF/SASSI, 2010)

The product:

Within the context of the fish industry, ’sustainability’  can mean that a species is not rated as overfished, the gear type used to catch the fish does not damage seabed ecosystems, discards of other fish are avoided and the fish has been landed at a port near to the fishing grounds (i.e. it has a low carbon footprint). The product may be either raw fish, or it may be processed beyond the raw material itself, e.g. packaged, ready to cook fillets in a box. In this case the information or brand to state that it is a sustainable product is on the box.

There are clear benefits for businesses associated with sustainable seafood, including positive PR, more reliable supply chains, better quality seafood, greater customer awareness (WWF/SASSI, 2010) and products that command a higher price.  Often for example, customers switch to or develop loyalty to firms they consider environmentally responsible, however claims about sustainability must be credible to avoid a public perception of ’greenwashing’, or making non-credible claims (Bhaskaran et al., 2006)

The consumer:

This project considers the issue of sustainability from the perspective of the Irish consumer.  The Seafood Choices Alliance surveyed European consumers and found;

·   The average price increase for sustainable seafood is 10%

·   40% of consumers are willing to pay 5% to 10% more

·   25% of consumers are willing to pay 10% more

·   A quarter of the most affluent consumers are willing to pay 20% more

Consumers prefer environmentally friendly products.  They have an innate desire to ’do the right thing’ and all things equal, they would choose environmentally responsible products (Bhaskaran et al., 2006).  Sometimes, these consumers simply have too little information, or have no way of evaluating a product’s environmental impact.  In such cases, third party accreditation can generate confidence and trust in a producer’s claims (Bhaskaran et al., 2006), and provide a critical point of difference for environmentally responsible fishing.

The Students Challenge :

Brand Plan 

Working in groups of 4, the masters students are required to prepare a brand development plan for a ’sustainability brand’ which would provide an ’Accreditation Mark’ for Irish fish producers.  This plan will contain the following sections:

A consumer profile to identify what groups are most interested in this issue of sustainably caught fish used in the fish product for sale.

An analysis of the product features which influence consumers’ choice.  In particular, consumers’ attitudes about premium prices for sustainably caught fish should be determined.

Develop brand element(s), which will have a dual role: to communicate that the fish is sustainably caught, and to create a broader awareness about the issue of sustainability.   Explain how brand elements will translate across media formats.

Select two ambassadors to support the branded product in media promotions, and outline the reasons for your choice.

References:

Bhaskaran, S., Polonsky, M., Cary, J. and Fernandez, S. (2006) Environmentally sustainable food production and marketing.   Opportunity or hype?  British Food Journal, 108(8), 677-690.

WWF/SASSI (2010) The South African Seafood Initiative http://www.wwfsassi.co.za/?m=1 (Accessed 18^th November 2010).

The Brand Concepts that the student groups came up with are shown below. The full student brand plans have been put together and are available here and also in the  Reports section of the SEMRU publication web page.

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