reLAKSation 51.
Barbie time!: Although
summer 2001 was not scorching hot, it has been estimated that the
British public still managed to hold a total of 63 million
barbecues. Some of these might have included farmed fish, such as
salmon and trout, within the more traditional sausage and burger
menu, but fish is not usually considered as an obvious choice for
barbecue cooking by the British public. This probably reflects
the relatively low level of fish consumption by many consumers,
except as fish and chips. A huge section of the population,
especially those in the younger age groups are simply not
familiar with fish and as a result, this massive market
opportunity is being missed.
Fortunately,
the supermarkets are doing something about this through the
development of a range of barbecue meal options, which are
packaged similarly and promoted together on the shelves. This
means that fish products are placed next to burgers, sausages,
steaks and kebabs. One store has displayed Chinese and Cajun
flavoured salmon kebabs alongside minty lamb kebabs. Consumers,
who have never considered buying fish, might now be prompted to
do so.
Promoting
salmon consumption through the barbecue is perhaps one
opportunity which the fish farming industry has recognised, but
has failed to really exploit. Certainly, some years ago one
salmon promotion was aimed at consumers who bought a very
expensive gas fired barbecue and more recently, industry
representative associations have distributed barbecue recipes
either at point of sale or through their web sites. However,
these always appear aimed at existing consumers of fish, rather
than trying to boost consumption amongst those who do not
normally consider buying fish.
The fish
farming industry may have therefore missed a potential marketing
opportunity, as this week is the 6th
National BBQ Week. Whilst there are now many such marketing
‘weeks’, the profile of this particular one has been
raised by the strong sponsorship generated by what is in effect a
relatively unknown barbecue oriented company, Bar-B- Bar. They
have official sponsors for:
Retailing
– Sainsburys
Meat –
The Meat and Livestock Commission
Sausages
– Walls
Burgers
– Dalepak
Olive oil
– Filippo Berio
Beer –
Fosters
Wine –
Garnet Point
What appears to be lacking is a sponsor for fish. Yet fortunately, whilst the organisers do not promote fish, they have included some fish recipes from their sponsors on their website - www.NationalBBQWeek.co.uk. These include one for monkfish, one for swordfish and one for salmon. These all use the sponsors’ sauces.
This joint
marketing effort has received a great deal of coverage including
a twelve-page spread in one national newspaper weekend magazine
and heavy BBQ advertising by Sainsburys and road-shows at most of
the county fairs.
The message
arising from this week-long promotion is one of lifestyle, rather
than any specific ingredient or product. Perhaps, this is a
message, which the fish farming industry may yet consider.
Trout Weak!:
One other marketing
week, which has now been and gone was the British Trout
Association’s 3rd National Trout Week. This was rather a low-key
affair, which did not receive anywhere near as much publicity as
the current BBQ promotion. In fact, details were few and far
between illustrated by visiting the BTA website, which requests
that you “Watch this space for details.”
According
to fishupdate.com, the focus of the promotion involved celebrity
chef James Martin cooking a special champagne battered trout
recipe at Billingsgate fish market; the idea being to demonstrate
that trout is a good example of a sustainable fish. This was
supported by an NOP survey commissioned by the BTA, which showed
that 58% of those questioned feared that over-fishing was
endangering their cod and chips whilst 50% would be prepared to
ask their local fish and chip shop for a farmed alternative.
However, we wonder whether this farmed alternative would be
trout?
Whilst we are passionate
advocates of the substitution of threatened wild marine fish by
farmed alternatives, we are not convinced that trout would be the
most obvious choice. This is because trout production has
remained relatively stable for some years and further expansion
is limited by the availability of fresh running water. Trout
production is dwarfed by cod consumption and therefore farmed
trout is unable to provide a solution in itself. Whilst, trout
can be farmed in seawater and to a size, more comparable to that
of fish sold in fish and chip shops, we would argue that salmon
might be better placed to fit this bill.
We have consistently argued
that the obvious way to increased consumption of farmed fish is
to ensure that it is presented in a form, to which the consumer
can relate. In the case of trout, we are just not convinced that
the fish and chip route is the right way forward.
Apathy rules?: We have previously argued that country
of origin is not really a significant driver of salmon purchases
and now a representative from Tesco, the UK’s leading
supermarket group, appears to support this view.
Giving evidence to the Scottish
Parliaments’ aquaculture enquiry, Jeremy Hooper from Tesco
said locally produced products are not really important to most
British consumers, although he did think that Scottishness might
be important to some Scottish customers, which is why Tesco
currently sell only Scottish produced fish in their Scottish
stores.
Mr Hooper said that Tesco’s
buying policy for farmed fish is based on safety, quality,
welfare and compliance with environmental standards rather than
the country of origin.
According to IntraFish, this
might give those who produced the recent study showing that the
Scottishness of Scottish salmon can command a significant price
premium reason to pause for thought. Certainly, our own
observations of the marketplace suggest that in the UK at least,
consumers are not deterred from buying salmon because it lacks a
Scottish identity, but equally, they are not prepared to pay a
premium for it when it does.
Mr Hooper’s views come at
the same time that the marketing organisation ‘Food from
Britain’ has published the results of a study carried out in
six European countries. This showed that most consumers do not
place a high priority on country of origin when buying food.
Consumers in all countries had a low awareness of the country of
origin, especially those in Italy, where 74% of respondents did
not know where the regular food purchases were produced.
The Grocer magazine reports
that FFB Chief Executive said that this research shows the need
to place the emphasis more on innovation, quality and variety
rather than relying on the country of origin to sell the products.
We, at Callander McDowell, certainly endorse this view.
As consumers become increasingly aware of the new fish labelling, it will be interesting to see whether they start to become more or less selective as to the origin of the fish they buy. This is something, which we will be watching closely.