New theme for Britain’s Love Seafood campaign

To mark the second year of its long-term consumer campaign Love Seafood, the U.K. public body Seafish is to introduce the new theme: “Bring on Better Living.”

Beginning in October, Love Seafood will aim to show consumers how eating seafood can help the nation to live better. Marketing activities will focus on reaching target audiences when they’re planning or buying their next meal and highlight the merits of choosing seafood.

Seafish said the brand’s new direction has been informed by consumer research carried out by independent market research agency Mustard.

This summer, Mustard created a pop-up online community of individuals from two of Love Seafood’s target audiences – starting-out millennials and stretched families – to get a better understanding of what is more likely to appeal to these demographics.

Research participants were asked about their perceptions and understanding of seafood, their behavior when purchasing, cooking, and eating seafood and their preferences for species, flavors, and dining occasions.

According to its findings, playing on the positives when promoting seafood is important, with the category seen by consumers as tasty, fresh, light, and healthy. It was also established that most people are looking for convenience and value when dining at home, but want indulgence and discovery when dining out.

“We invest in qualitative research to stay close to consumers – and understand how best to play our part in reversing the decline in seafood consumption across the U.K.,” Seafish Head of Marketing Greg Smith said. “Seafood is a delicious healthy protein, so it’s great to see that consumers are responsive to these positive messages. We’re taking this on board alongside findings on how to approach consumers for different dining situations which will all go towards informing our upcoming campaign plans.”

Other consumer insights from the research included:

• Online and social media are important channels to push message and influence behavior.
• Perceived expense is a barrier, especially for starting out families.
• Guidance is needed on how to prepare and cook seafood.
• Consumers often look for ideas and inspiration and are more likely to try seafood in meals and cuisines they already like.
• The biggest opportunity lies in exploring if it is possible to influence buyer behavior at the point where they are planning their meals and shopping for the week.

Launched in October 2020, Love Seafood aims to reframe Britain’s view of seafood and encourage U.K. consumers to eat more fish and shellfish over the next 20 years. To achieve this, marketing activities will, among other things, promote choice, convenience, and the benefits of balanced living, while providing seafood businesses with tools to communicate directly with consumers.

Photo courtesy of Seafish