Introduction.
The March 2000 issue of Fish Farming International reports on the progress of the investigation to analyse the worth of the joint European generic promotional campaign. Commissioned by the Norwegian Seafood Export Council, Oystein Myrland of the University of Tromso and Professor Henry Kinnucan of Auburn University, Alabama have been analysing the impact of the promotional campaign in the three target countries, Germany, France and Spain. This was to assess whether the NOK 50 million a year spent on the promotion is producing an acceptable return on investment.
Oystein Myrland had said that detailed results would not be ready until the analysis was presented at the AquaVision 2000 conference. However, he provided a summary in which said that sales of Atlantic salmon in the German market have increased by 1.5-2% a year in a total market of 90,000 tonnes. He said that this increase is a significant improvement and also suggests that there are signs of progress in the French and Spanish markets as well, although he does say that the figures currently available are not detailed enough to allow sound judgement to be made at this stage.
The Generic Campaign.
On October 15th 1998, Intrafish reported on the inception of the historic joint promotional campaign with the first phase focusing on the German, French and Spanish markets, although the latter was restricted to areas around Barcelona and Madrid. The contract was undertaken by the advertising agency Bates Worldwide.
Their message was 'Salmon - Success Made Simple'. They hoped to show that salmon is a sophisticated and easily handled product, available at a reasonable price. The aim of the promotion was to show that salmon is a serious alternative to chicken and meat.
The main thrust of the promotion was through a TV advertisement, supported by magazine advertisements. The initial distribution of resources meant that £968,000 was spent on TV commercials in France, £1.2 million in Germany and £298,000 in Spain. The total spend on printed advertisements was £170,000, £218,000 and £137,000 respectively.
Jack Robert Moller of the Norwegian Seafood Export Council (EFF), who have overseen the campaign said that it was expe cted to bear fruits from the first weeks onward, but he declined to say publicly by how much demand was expected to increase as a result of the campaign.