Reports
National Seafood Week
What we saw: Seafood Fortnight is over and we are yet to hear whether the reality lived up to the promotional hype. We are in no doubt that Seafood Fortnight will be deemed, like its predecessor, Seafood Week, to have been a great success. Sadly, our observations paint a slightly different picture, although this year we saw some encouraging signs that at least one supermarket has tried to bring the promotion to a wider audience.
The Seafood Fortnight website advised that:
“Supermarkets throughout the UK will be celebrating Seafood Week 2008 with a variety of events and promotions. Visit your local supermarket to find out what they are doing for Seafood Week 2008.”
We at Callander McDowell followed this advice and visited not just our local supermarket, but plenty of others too. This is what we saw. Click on the links for each of the supermarket chains:
We appreciate that it is difficult to gauge the success of this promotion because the aim is seemingly to increase awareness of the benefits of eating fish and seafood. However, we at Callander McDowell, believe that it represents a missed opportunity to bring fish and seafood to those consumers who are usually unwilling to eat them. This promotion will do little to do that since most of the promotional material is sited around the chilled fish section or the fresh fish counter and the reality is that those consumers who never eat fish and seafood are unlikely to ever visit these areas and thus will never see the promotional material. The only people who will see the promotion are those who already buy fish and presumably (or hopefully) most will already understand the benefits of eating fish and seafood.
This year, Morrison’s extended the reach of their promotion of Seafood Fortnight by placing promotional material around the entry gates to every store. This meant that potential consumers had to pass through the material to gain entry to the store. (Whether they registered the promotional message is another question).
The ‘2-a week’ message has been the main theme of these seafood promotions for the last couple of years. There is no doubt that consumers would benefit from eating two portions of fish a week but sometimes this sort of message can be seen as a form of preaching which can be off-putting. Perhaps a simpler message would be that fish and seafood is just good to eat.
Regular readers will know that our usual focus is towards the supermarkets but there is more to Seafood Fortnight than that covered by the large retailers. The Seafood Fortnight website lists promotions by geographic location so this year we took some time out from our supermarket visits to check out what was going on elsewhere.
One of the independent fishmongers listed on the Seafood Fortnight website was J T Livesey of Chorley. Their entry on the website stated “We plan to promote the superb quality and range of fish and shellfish that we sell. Introduce customers to new varieties and highlight the benefits of seafood. Give advice on how to cook, with free recipe cards also”. However, when we called at the shop during the second week of the promotion, there was no visible mention of Seafood Fortnight at all. In fact, it looked just like any fishmongers would be expected to look during any ordinary week, not at the height of a major annual promotion.
Our second visit was to the Bulls Head at Wilmslow in Cheshire. According to their entry on the Seafood Fortnight website they were to offer a fantastic range of seafood. They also intended to help the Royal National Lifeboat Association with a guess the name of the gold fish competition. The most notable aspect of this visit was that they displayed a huge billboard at the roadside advertising Seafood Fortnight. It was only a shame it was on a quiet road and not at the entrance to a major supermarket.
Finally, SeaFish, the organisers of the Seafood Fortnight promotion, seemed to have been trying to ‘think outside their usual box’ with ‘2 a week’ advertising on Facebook. This is a definite change of tack in an attempt to attract the new internet generation. At least it’s something different!!!!
On September 18th 2007 a press statement was released stating that “Seafood Week 2007 is set to be a major success with the organisers Seafish reporting the best ever industry support since the campaign started in 2000.” The full press release can be read at http://www.seafish.org/2aweek/whatsnew/detail.asp?newsid=104 but it goes on to say “Nikki Hawkins, Seafish account manager said ‘I have been involved with Seafood Week for the past five years and every year I am delighted and encouraged by the support and enthusiasm of the industry. We have some excellent events and offers lined up across the country – consumers are in for a real treat’.”
This is an offer which we, at Callander McDowell, could not ignore. As we visit the major retail stores on a daily basis, we were keen to see what sort of treat consumers could look forward to. We have to admit that in the past we have been rather scathing of this annual promotion because it simply did not live up to the expectation created by the pre-publicity. We hoped that this year, the promotion would be very different.
Although, the week long promotion involves all sorts of businesses, the main interface for consumers and seafood are the major supermarkets, which are now responsible for the bulk of fish and seafood sales and thus became the focus of our search. According to the Seafish press release, Asda, Marks & Spencer, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose, the five Seafood Week supermarket partners are all holding promotions throughout the UK including tastings and special events.” However, we didn’t restrict our visits to just these five continuing with our data gathering in fourteen different supermarket chains.
The National Seafood Week website detailed what each of the five supermarket partners would be doing for the week long promotion. This provides the basis to see whether what we found matches what was expected.
Asda – The National Seafood website states that ‘promotions encouraging customers to give fish a try: customers will be offered fish in 3 easy steps - choose the fish, then a free portion of butter in one of four flavours, take it home in an oven ready bag, creating a simple meal solution ready to cook.’
Whilst the implication is that Asda will be running this ‘cook in the bag’ promotion, the reality is that Asda have been running this campaign since the beginning of September and are expected to continue doing so until they roll out the Christmas promotions. It just happens that National Seafood Week coincides with their latest round of promotional activity and advertisements. Although to be fair to Asda, one or two of their stores have made an effort to promote past Seafood Weeks by decorating the fish counter with balloons and displaying a Seafood Week banner but not recently.
This year Asda have changed their advertising away from their pocket tapping jingle. Instead, the adverts use a range of celebrities working in various departments of the store. The series began with comedienne Victoria Wood working in the bakery section. The latest uses ex Arsenal and England footballer Ian Wright in the fish department. The full advert can be seen at (http://utalkmarketing.com/Article.aspx?id=2844). The theme is the new ‘cook in the bag’ packaging that allows consumers to select a piece of fish and then a portion of flavoured butter which are then sealed together in a bag that can be put straight into the oven to be cooked. The idea is to make buying and eating fish simpler and it remains to be seen whether it is a success or not. This is not the first time that the cook in the bag has been launched as it appeared earlier this year but the concept had not really been thought out as then just the fish was sealed in the bag. This meant that it was not even possible to season the fish prior to cooking let alone add any flavourings or butter.
This promotion was already winding down as Seafood Week began and was not really evident in store. However, neither was National Seafood Week. Asda had given the promotion some pre-publicity in its in house magazine with a two page spread, one of which is shown below:
However, when it came to promoting the week in store, Asda fell rather short. The fresh fish counter remained completely bare of any publicity material nor was any found elsewhere in the store.
The only evidence of Seafood Week in any the Asda stores visited was found on the shelves of chilled fish. Selected packs of fish carried a sticker detailing a 'Two for One' hotel offer that formed the basis of Asda's contribution to National Seafood Week. Asda customers may wish to take advantage of this hotel accommodation offer but it is not really an incentive to eat more fish.
As can be seen, the offer sticker does include the '2 a week' logo but that was the sole evidence of the promotion in Asda. There was certainly no evidence of any tastings or special events but then neither was there in Marks & Spencer.
Marks & Spencer – The website states that there is a ‘Special 'buy one, get a second half price' offer on chilled, pre-packed fish and ‘cook’ fish products. Trial size pack of fish free for account holders.’
Marks & Spencer appeared to make most effort of all the National Seafood Week supermarket partners to promote the week long promotion. They even extended the promotion because their Oxford Street store was already promoting the week three days before the promotion began. Marks & Spencer stores changed their shelf edge labelling to National Seafood Week and the shelves displayed small information cards advising of the promotion and the two a week message. Customers could be left in no doubt that it was National Seafood Week.
Customers were given further encouragement to buy fish with the 'special' buy one get second half price offers. However, this deal was not that special as it has been running on a changing range of products for some months. During National Seafood Week, M&S customers could also buy breaded chicken on the same deal.
M&S did have a trial pack of Lochmuir salmon on display, although fresh salmon did not appear to be part of the Seafood Week promotion in M&S. There was no indication that this was being given away free to account holders.
As in Asda, there was no evidence of special events of tastings in any M&S store visited.
Morrisons – The website states that ‘Free ‘Have you tried?’ booklets will be available from fish counters, encouraging customers to sample alternative, more sustainable species, with recipe ideas and top tips.’
Morrisons did eventually display a fresh fish booklet at their counters. It wasn't called 'Have you tried' but it does contain information on sustainability, the two a week campaign and recipe ideas. Otherwise, there was no evidence of the National Seafood Week promotion in any Morrisons store visited. In previous years, Morrisons have usually produced a new leaflet for Seafood Week usually including a competition but not this year. Equally, we have previously come across a tasting in a Leeds branch of Morrisons that was run by a Humber based fisheries organisation, but not this year.
Morrisons own website included a calendar showing the dates of the week long promotion and drawing attention to special offers available from the fresh fish counter. These offers were actually no different from those offered the previous week and were similar to those that run continuously on Morrisons fish counters.
Sainsbury’s – The website states that ‘Staff will receive training about fish sustainability and the importance of ‘2 a week’. This will also be rolled out to local schools. There will be a customer leaflet available on Seafood Week as well as a money-off coupon on-pack on selected fish products.’
We don't know whether Sainsbury's provided fish counter staff with extra training nor whether local schools benefited from this increased knowledge but we do know that they fulfilled their intention to provide customer leaflets and money off coupons in store. Certainly, we found evidence of this promotional material in every store we visited.
National Seafood Week promotional material on Sainsbury's fish counters and chilled fish shelves.
The leaflet was available both on counters and the chilled fish display
Packs of chilled fish carried a money-off coupon.
However in common with other supermarket stores, there was no evidence of tastings or special events.
Waitrose – The Seafood Week website states that ‘Seafood recipe cards available in store, along with a customer leaflet including ideas on how to incorporate seafood into your diet twice a week. Customer tastings will also be taking place during Seafood Week.’
In the past, Waitrose have been most active during Seafood Week with discounted price offers across the whole range of fish species from their fish counters. The price labels usually refer to Seafood Week although they are not prominent and customers may be forgiven for thinking that the store is just being unusually generous. Some prepacks of chilled products have carried a two a week sticker during the promotion. Waitrose offer recipe
cards on a continuous basis.
This year, Waitrose appeared to have forgotten Seafood Week with no change to their usual promotion, nor any evidence of National Seafood Week promotional material.
Although recipes cards were available as usual, none were really directed towards a seafood promotion. Waitrose did have a significant link to National Seafood Week on their website providing a whole range of fish information which wasn't apparent in store.
Although there were just five National Seafood Week partner supermarkets, a couple of others undertook some form of promotional activity. Some packs of chilled fish in Tesco carried a sticker offering a pampering break such as a massage as part of National Seafood Week. At least we presumed that it was part of this promotion because there was nothing to say so just that the stickers included the 'Two a week' logo.
We saw our only evidence of a tasting at a Tesco store. Sadly, it wasn't for fish but rather Nescafe coffee.
Packs of chilled fish sold under the Young's brand in Somerfield store also carried a sticker with a 'Two a week' logo along with a message to eat more fish. This label was specifically intended for Young's products as it included a reference to their website.
Finally, the National Seafood Week website was keen to draw attention to individual businesses in 'your' local area. The list for our own area, the North West, contained just seven, one of which was the Haydock Plaice fish and chip shop. According to the website, this 'chippy' was to run special Seafood Week promotions with special prices for fish and chips as well as fish meals and fish cakes. We thought that this was sufficient incentive to merit a visit.
Although it was halfway through the week long promotion, we found no evidence of any special prices. The fish and chips we bought were priced as advertised on their menu board. There was a Seafood Week poster in the window (the blue one) and also one inside but they were mixed in with other posters ranging from local events to advertising for a pie producer. It certainly didn't do anything for us.
So what is our view of National Seafood Week? Once again, we don't think it lived up to the industry hype although there was more evidence of its presence than possibly in previous years. The problem is that the promotion is focused on those consumers that already eat fish. Perhaps because the underlying message is the 'two a week' campaign, this is not surprising. However, what about those consumers that don't eat fish? Are we not interested in encouraging them to try fish and get them to eat fish once a week, or even once a month. Most supermarket shoppers never go anywhere near the fish counter so never see the National Seafood Week promotion nor hear the message that it tries to convey. Instead, the promotion needs to be taken away from the fish counters and into the more popular areas of the supermarket, preferably near the entrance where most shoppers would see it.
We appreciate that the overriding factor is money and this dictates what is and what is not possible but at the moment, we do not think that the current promotion is a true celebration of fish and seafood. Neither does it really encourage new consumers to try fish, or existing consumers to eat more. The proof surely is that, according to Seafish, only 28% of consumers eat fish twice a week. Is this really enough?
Forecast-growth ahead?: Sid Patten, Chief Executive of the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation told Seafood intelligence.com that the market outlook for Scottish farmed salmon is improving. This is good news, but is it actually news?
Against a background of a declining wild catch, how can any farming industry consider the market prospects to be anything other than good, especially as demand continues to increase? Of course, this is a long term view. In the short term, the story is slightly different.
Mr Patten has said that demand for salmon in the UK has grown by 13.8% from 2004 to 2006, however this data is misleading. It is difficult to understand why the data has been presented over two years and not annually. The reason is simple. The increased price of salmon has significantly suppressed demand this year and although we don’t know what the figures are, we are sure that if the data for 2005 and 2006 was presented separately, it would not tell the same upbeat story. Speaking at AquaVision, Mike Parker of Young’s confirmed how demand for salmon had declined this year. His presentation showed that volume of salmon in some sectors had declined by up to 30%. This is not the story that Mr Patten would like the world to hear.
The problem for Mr Patten is that it is some of his membership who are directly responsible for the market disruption that led to the increased price of salmon and the subsequent decline in sales. His approach is therefore more understandable.
Following years of accusations of over-production in the salmon industry, Mr Patten now says that the increasing demand for salmon means that production must now keep up with demand – and about time too.
As we have repeatedly argued. The real problem of the salmon farming industry is not over-production but under-marketing. The Scottish industry has largely ignored the marketplace focusing on the production of what they want consumers to buy. Mr Patten has said that the industry has had to look at itself and see how and where it was going. Let us hope so. There is still a huge market potential for salmon.
Interestingly, whilst the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation have said that production is due to rise in response to the increased demand, they are unable to actually put a figure as to by how much. Mr Patten said that in order to understand the true rise, it is necessary to put the figures into context. This is easier said than done as the annual production figures seem to have become something of an uncertainty in recent years. As we approach the end of 2006, we are still waiting for publication of the 2005 figures. These would provide an estimate of production for 2006 but we would remain in the dark about what will happen in 2007.
Mr Patten said that in 2003 production stood at 169,736 tonnes declining to 158,099 tonnes in 2004. He said that it has fallen to 136,000 tonnes in 2005 (FRS prediction 136, 056 tonnes) and is expected to remain about 130,000 tonnes in 2006. After then, Mr Patten is unprepared to make any prediction.
Fortunately, there are other sources of information such as Kontali. Speaking in Chile, Lars Liabo offered the following data:
2005 120,000 tonnes
2006 128,000
2007 141,000
2008 147,000
Whilst these figures would seem to suggest that the rate of growth in excess of Mr Patten’s expectation, the reality is that Scottish production may never reach previous levels. Unable to obtain a premium for a Scottish label, many of the independent farms are now converting to either organic or sustainable production. This means that stocking levels are much reduced as will be eventual output.
Anyhow, this debate is largely irrelevant. It is not a question of how much salmon Scotland can produce, but whether it can produce the right fish for the right markets. Instead of investing in production, the industry might be better served if it invested in the right marketing.
What we see…: Our company adage is ‘what we hear is not what we see’. This generalism arises from many years of regular observation of the marketplace for aquaculture products. We mention it because National Seafood Week in the UK has just come to an end and we are yet again left wondering whether we have missed something.
At the beginning of the week, Intrafish reported that Seafood Week was getting into full swing aimed at encouraging consumers to eat fish twice a week. As part of the drive, the country’s leading supermarkets – Asda, Morrisons, Sainsburys’s, Tesco and Waitrose are to offer special promotions, offers and sampling to encourage customers to try a wide range of seafood products.
As regular visitors to many supermarket stores, we, at Callander McDowell can only say that we have been rather under-whelmed. We have found a great deal of difference between what is claimed will happen and what actually did.
The Two a Week website, which has replaced that promoting the National Seafood Week, provides the following summaries for each supermarket’s involvement.
The website states that 'ASDA is promoting the ‘2 a week’ message throughout Seafood Week on ASDA FM, the biggest commercial radio station in the UK. Stores will also offer price promotions encouraging everybody to buy two portions a week.'
Like many shoppers, our visits to supermarket stores are relatively short. In some stores, it is possible to hear ASDA FM but any attempts to continuously listen to what is being said are blocked by the constant interruption of colleague messages and announcements from the store greeters who obviously have a whole script to adhere to. We think we did hear the word fish in one store from the greeter, but the message was very garbled. ASDA FM may be the biggest commercial radio station in the UK, but we are not convinced that too many people actually can either hear it or listen to it so we wouldn’t be too surprised if few Asda customers heard the seafood message. Equally, we don’t believe that many Asda customers were encouraged to buy one portion of fish, let alone two, this week since none of the promised price promotions actually materialised.
Last year, Asda appeared to be one of the most enthusiast supermarket supporters of Seafood Week. Then, at least they made an attempt to pass on the message at the point of sale. This year, there was nothing.
Seafood Week 2005 - pennants and balloons Seafood Week 2006 - no promotional material
Asda, however, did devote a page of their latest magazine to Seafood Week mentioning the promotion twice – as in two a week!!
The Two a Week website stated that ‘Morrisons had produced a 16-page leaflet, featuring easy to cook recipes and cooking tips and sea to plate stories reinforcing the provenance of the seafood on sale. Some outlets will be hosting educational visits, teaching children the importance of eating two portions a week.’
We found the leaflet in all the stores visited but it was not accessible in some. The leaflet seems to be more about promoting Morrisons as Seafood Retailer of the Year 2006 rather than promoting Seafood Week. The leaflet was only available at the fish counter so would do little to attract customers who never buy fish and therefore never visit that part of the store. Morrisons also ran a competition for children in which they could win an i-pod if they could identify fish using the latin names. At least, the competition leaflet actually referred to Seafood Week. Some stores also displayed a poster at the back of the fish counter, which mentioned Seafood Week.
The Two a Week website stated that ‘Sainsbury’s will offer in-store sampling, with fully trained food advisors on hand to explain the health benefits of eating seafood twice a week. A brochure will also be available, encouraging customers to try something new.’
We found no mention of Seafood Week in any Sainsbury’s stores and any promotions running had also been running during the previous week so were not relevant to Seafood Week. Equally, we encountered a total absence of any in store sampling.
The Two a Week website state that ‘Tesco will be offering a ‘Try Me Free’ promotion on their pre-packed fish products during Seafood Week. Customers can purchase a specially marked fish product (cod, smoked cod, haddock and smoked haddock), send in a 20 word statement saying whether they liked the product or not and receive a refund (maximum refund £3.95)’
Tesco did actually run this promotion although we found the promotional stickers on Haddock and smoked cod only. Tesco tend to stack their fish produce horizontally so the front of the packs can only be seen if they are actually picked up. There was otherwise no mention of Seafood Week so the promotion was only relevant to those customers who had actually decided to buy one of the promotional products.
The Two a Week website stated that ‘Waitrose planned 20% off the majority of service counter fish and shellfish and will be offering an informative customer leaflet and recipe card.’
Waitrose did reduce the price of a number of fish species from their fish counter but there was no promotional material telling customers why. Waitrose discount fish every week and for all customers knew, the discounts were part of their regular promotional programme. Some packs of chilled fish did carry the two a week symbol.
Seafish will yet again deem National Seafood Week to be a great success but our view is that most consumers didn’t even know it was Seafood Week and even less did anything about it. It is fine to have promotional material available on the fish counter, although most supermarkets didn’t have any, but as most consumers give wide berth to the fish counter, it would fail to pass on the message it carries. What is needed is a simple display at the entrance of the store supplying vouchers and recipes to everyone including those who never consider eating fish. Of course, if free samples are available so much the better. From our perspective, the real problem is that the message is not reaching the consumer, especially those who have never considered eating fish. Once again Seafood Week has been a major disappointment.
No form: Following on from BBC TV Newsnight’s accusation that the Soil Association had allowed its organic standards to drop by allowing the certification of salmon farming, Patrick Holden, has acknowledged that for some people no form of salmon farming will be acceptable. It is however worth remembering that although organic production is featured heavily in the news, it is still a tiny proportion of total production. This may be changing as the latest Mintel survey indicates, but it is a minority. The Guardian newspaper reports that a third of British shoppers are now prepared to spend more on ethical foods such as Fairtrade, free range, local or organic production. Spending on these foods has risen by 62% over the last four years to over £2bn. Whether this third of the population are will buy this food remains to be seen. The indication is that price is still a major factor in deciding what to buy as can be seen from a report about chicken production in the Observer Food Monthly.
Chicken Typical Price Market Share
Standard £3.60 90.00%
Freedom Food barn reared £5.40 1.70%
Free range £7.20 1.09%
Organic £9.00 0.14%
Organic salmon may represent about 2% of total Scottish production so there is clearly still a long way to go for both salmon and poultry.
Far from reality: According to their source at the European Commission, Intrafish report that recent consultations involving all sides of the salmon dispute have confirmed to DG Trade that the MIP should be made permanent. We, at Callander McDowell, are not in the least bit surprised since we had already concluded that DG Trade would see the MIP as the only solution. Certainly, their experience over the last year and a half would suggest that member states would not tolerate any stronger measures but at the same time, they are unwilling to consider the alternative; a return to free trade.
Intrafish report that DG Trade also discounted the idea of a market growth-led solution in which non-EU exporters would be allowed to sell more salmon in relation to market growth. This would be similar to the mechanism implemented as part of the previous EU salmon agreement but in our view it would be doomed to failure because clearly the EU salmon agreement did not work and implementing a similar system now would not achieve a different outcome. This is because due to its size, the salmon industry in Europe does not merit such a controlling apparatus.
Whilst we might not agree with a market-growth led solution, we do firmly believe that what happens in the marketplace is the central focus of any solution. After-all, the whole purpose of salmon production is to supply the market place with what it wants. If any solution does not include consideration of the marketplace then it will not work. This is why the salmon agreement failed and why the current solution, whatever it is, will also fail. Sadly, the European Commission are so totally focused on production issues that they have ignored the market altogether. They have already made their view extremely clear. They believe that the consumer should be willing to pay a fair price for their salmon but they do not have an answer to what the industry should do if consumers are not willing to pay this fair price.
It is already apparent that the retailers have recognised that salmon sales are driven by price. In recent weeks, the number of promotional offers have increased and along with them, the promotional price has fallen. This week, salmon fillet prices, on promotion, have fallen to below the level at which they were before the EU started to interfere in salmon supply. Not surprisingly, packs of these salmon fillets, priced at £5.82/kg have flown off the supermarket shelves.
We, at Callander McDowell, are not sure what the European Commission hopes to achieve by making the MIP permanent. It will not stop prices sliding down below the level at which it is set. It is not a magic barrier to low prices but rather just a mechanism to further disrupt the international salmon industry. Salmon prices have been artificially high, due in combination to the previous salmon measures and reduced harvests but prices cannot be sustained at these higher levels because it is too high to use in further processing and this is where much of the salmon is destined. We appreciate that the European Commissions' initial intention was to regulate all salmon imports through safeguard measures, but member states did not agree. Instead, the European Commission was left with the MIP as their only weapon but all it will do is prevent imports of Norwegian salmon when prices fall below the fixed level. It won't stop prices falling and it won't stop imports from other producing countries. Some retailers are already making preparations for when this happens. This week, one UK retailer introduced a new pack of salmon fillets that states 'Farmed in Scotland, Norway or Chile' and before anyone starts to criticise the store concerned about unclear labelling, the pack also states the specific origin of the fillets inside.
With imports from Chile going some way to help satisfy consumer demand for low cost salmon, we cannot see how the MIP will help the EUSPG. As we discussed previously, the MIP is already set significantly below the cost of production claimed by the EUSPG. Even if the MIP kicks in, EUSPG members will be seemingly losing money so how does this protect them?
We have argued for many years that the salmon industry will evolve into one which is dominated by large multinational players supplying low cost salmon to consumers seeking a value for money everyday meal choice. Small independent producers simply cannot complete against such production might and therefore it has been of paramount importance that the small independent producers should develop small niche markets of their own. Unfortunately, the independent Scottish industry has resisted such change arguing that consumers are willing to pay a higher price for their salmon just because it is Scottish. They were wrong. Country of origin has never been sufficient incentive to persuade consumers to dig deeper into their pockets and this is why the Scottish industry has struggled for so long. However, a minority of these producers are determined that they should benefit from selling their salmon using the Scottish (and Irish) identity. However, to do this they need to exclude all overseas competition from what they see as their marketplace. This is why the EUSPG, as they called themselves, have taken their case to Brussels. In order to persuade DG Trade of the validity of their case, they have had to accuse Norway of dumping.
The EUSPG seem adept at twisting the facts to suit their position. We have previously discussed how in their submission, they claim to represent 90% of European owned production, although they appear to omitted to include about 50 other farms from their calculations. The Salmon Farm Protest Group have identified further manipulation in the latest issue of the Salmon Farm Monitor. Whilst we certainly don't agree with the SFPG as to their own policies, they do seem to make an interesting point about the various farm receiverships that have occurred amongst EUSPG members in Shetland. The EUSPG have cited these receiverships are clear evidence that the Scottish industry is in trouble, yet it seems that a number of the receiverships are of farms owned by the same people and despite suffering multiple business failures, they are no deterrent to obtaining more financial help to buy back the assets and restart farming again. Perhaps, the industry is not in such trouble, it is just how the individual businesses are managed that is the problem. Certainly, other EUSPG members outside Shetland have been only to happy to boast about their ongoing profitability.
Back in August, an unnamed leading figure of the independent Scottish industry told the Glasgow Herald that unless they received significant financial help, the independent sector would collapse within two months. It is now two months on and so far there has been no news of any major collapse. Perhaps, this is because a number of the independent farms have finally recognised that the real opportunities for them lie, not with promotion of a Scottish product, but rather by focussing on other niche markets such as organic and environmentally sustainable production.
Making the MIP permanent is not a solution to the problems of the independent Scottish industry. The only solution is for these farmers to adapt their production to produce what consumers actually want. The MIP will only increase disruption within the salmon industry, destabilising the market for years to come. Sadly, DG Trade cannot see this because their blinkered vision is so far from reality.
Weak week: National Seafood Week, now in its fifth year, is the biggest celebration of seafood and according to Andy Gray of Seafish, it grows bigger and bigger. Seafoodintelligence.com reported that six major British supermarkets pledged their support of Seafood Week 2005, which ran from October 7th to the 14th. According to fishupdate.com, the week included events and tastings in fishmongers, supermarkets, hotels , restaurants and fish and chip shops encouraging people to be more adventurous and try some of the many different varieties of seafood available in the UK.
We, at Callander McDowell, must have missed out on these celebrations because, as in previous years, we saw little evidence of this major promotion anywhere we looked, and we did look. The National Seafood Week website states that 'supermarkets throughout the UK will be celebrating Seafood Week with a variety of events and promotions. Visit your local supermarket to find out if they're taking part.' We did and what we saw, suggests that most weren't taking part although the level of actual participation did vary. The six supermarket chains that had pledged support for the promotion included:
Asda actually provided the highest profile for National Seafood Week of any supermarket chain. The fish counter and in some cases, the chilled fish cabinet were decked out with National Seafood Week pennants and balloons.
At the beginning of the week, one or two stores also added National Seafood Week stickers to packs of chilled fish and seafood, but once they were sold, they were not replaced. Asda did not offer any tastings or promotional discounts to encourage sales.
Iceland stores had no evidence of any form of participation in the promotion.
Morrisons used National Seafood Week to launch their fish information booklet but this did not mention National Seafood Week, nor was there any evidence of the promotion in most stores. The exception was a handful of stores in the Humber area that offered tastings between 11am and 3pm on one day only. Last year, we visited one of these stores in Leeds and found the booth hidden away at the back of the store with indications that there had been few visitors. A similar tasting was programmed to take place this year.
Sainsbury's stores had no evidence of any form of participation in the promotion.
Tesco stores lacked any evidence of involvement in the promotion with the exception that prepacks of cod fillets, cod loins and haddock fillets carried a small sticker from Seafish advertising the promotion and offering to try the fish for free (up to a value of £3.72). Consumers buying the pack and sending the label and the proof of purchase to Seafish would have their money refunded. This promotion was the most surprising of those observed since cod is supposed to be a threatened species and one of the stated aims of National Seafood Week was to persuade consumers to try different species.
Waitrose fish counters offered discounts on several fish species, mainly monkfish, swordfish and tuna. The fish counter stabbers advising of the price discount also included the National Seafood Week logo although it was very small and hardly visible. There was no other indication that it was National Seafood Week.
Callander McDowell also visited a small number of independent fishmongers and saw little evidence of the promotion.
As in previous years, we believe that the promotional hype greatly exceeded the actual promotional activity. We believe that the idea of promoting fish and seafood would be to attract consumers who never buy fish or would consider eating it. This promotion fails in this account since only those consumers who visit the fish counter or the chilled fish cabinet would see the promotional material. Non-consumers would never see it at all. Those consumers that were made aware of the promotion did not receive any incentive to buy more fish or try other species except in Waitrose or Tesco and in Tesco, the promotion focused on the traditional species, rather than encourage consumers to try something different. We just cannot see how this promotion can either boost sales or increase fish consumption. Despite this, we are sure that in two or three weeks time, Seafish will issue a press release claiming that the fifth National Seafood Week was the best ever promotion and a great success. We can only conclude that it must have been a different National Seafood Week to the one we saw!
A great success: Figures released from last year’s National Seafood Week, which appeared in IntraFish, indicate that 53% of those involved in the promotion said that they believe that it helped promote seafood. However, a surprising 13% were not sure what benefits the campaign brought. We, at Callander McDowell, can sympathise with this view, because having closely watched the last three campaigns, including the one that has just ended, we can only conclude that the promotion lacks any real substance.
Those participating in National Seafood Week include fish and chip shops, restaurants and independent retail fishmongers. However the greatest potential interface for the public to come into contact with this promotion is through the major supermarkets. Fishupdate.com report that those supermarkets organising events during the week include Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Morrisons, Marks & Spencer, Somerfield, Safeway, Waitrose, Iceland. In addition, the official website (www.seafoodweek.co.uk) reports that the discount chain Lidl is also participating in the promotion.
Although all the major supermarkets were supposed to participate in this promotion, we, at Callander McDowell, found little evidence to suggest that they were. We believe that most British shoppers would have remained blissfully ignorant of the promotion at all. Certainly there was no indication of the promotion in any of the Tesco, Sainsburys, Morrisons, Safeway, Iceland, Lidl or Waitrose stores that we visited during the week. It was only in Somerfield and Marks & Spencer stores that it was evident that it was National Seafood Week. Somerfield stores displayed a small shelf label and a holder of promotional leaflets in which shoppers were encouraged to spend £5 on chilled fish for which they would receive a voucher for two nights for the price of one at a selection of 150 UK hotels.
Some Marks & Spencer stores also displayed a shelf label highlighting a £1 discount on scallops. Packs of scallops, tuna and seabass incorporated a National Seafood Week recipe leaflet.
Asda, who were not included in the Seafish press release did mention the promotion in their magazine, but only on the last page and whilst they said that there would be cookery demonstrations across the country, they did not say if any would be taking place in their own stores.
The National Seafood Week website listed a whole range of events taking place throughout the UK including some at British supermarkets. Although, Callander McDowell could not find anything locally, we did note that Morrisons were hosting some cookery demonstrations at selected Yorkshire and Humberside stores. We made the effort to visit one of these and found that they were organised by the Humber Seafood Group, who were promoting Coley, Red Fish, Greenland Halibut, Haddock and Crab. They had set up a small stand in one of the selected stores so that they could demonstrate various alternative recipes with an oriental theme. Unfortunately, at the time of our visit, the chef was stood twiddling his thumbs in the absence of any interested customers. A second visit later in the day produced the same observation. Morrisons shoppers who missed this 4 hour demonstration would have been unaware of National Seafood Week at all.
The IntraFish newspaper reports that according to Howard Thomas, promotions manager at Seafish, National Seafood Week is one of the biggest, most exciting and inclusive national events of the year. Unfortunately, we cannot agree. The evidence in store suggests that the week long promotion is nothing but a damp squib. Last year’s campaign resulted in over 200 articles in the media equating to an advertising value of £1.2 million. This is all well and good but unless consumers go out and buy the fish, there is little point to this campaign. We found little incentive for customers to do so. The problem with campaigns like the National Seafood Week is that their success is measured by awareness rather than whether the public have actually bought into the promotional message. As a comparison, the US restaurant chain Legal Seafoods have recently announced that as a direct response to their campaign to promote the consumption of Pacific salmon, sales have risen 300%. This is a clear measure that their campaign has been a success.
The problem with National Seafood Week is that it tries to be too wide-ranging and it therefore fails, especially when most consumers appear unwilling to listen to the message. It is worth remembering that past EU Fisheries Minister Emma Bonino tried to persuade European consumers to try alternative species without any success. Seafish have encountered the same problems in that consumers are reluctant to move away from their traditional species and sticking a couple of posters up in a fishmongers provides little encouragement to do so. We believe that Seafish should try to focus on specific market sectors rather than take their wide ranging approach.
IntraFish recently reported fish was not eaten much in Chile and that in an effort to increase consumption, Chilean children were being targeted. The idea is to develop products that children like to eat and these will be offered at their schools. We, at Callander McDowell firmly believe that this is a way to encourage a greater consumption of fish, especially in years to come.
In the UK, we acknowledge that Seafish do operate an education programme, but surely stepping this up would be a better use of limited resources. Interestingly, the Sunday Mirror reported recently that sales of a fish oil that claims to boost children’s brainpower has soared. Sales of omega 3 supplements at Tesco have quadrupled over the past year. Surely, Seafish could capitalise on this growing demand and encourage children that the real thing is much better than a supplement. Here is a potential market which the fishing industry is clearly failing to exploit. Seafish is ideally placed to take the omega 3 message to both children and parents and show them that some species of fish are rich in these oils, providing both a boost to the brain as well as a more balanced diet. At the same time, omega 3 rich fish should be incorporated into the types of products children eat. It cannot be that difficult to enhance the omega 3 content of fish fingers and burgers.
Meanwhile, Seafish has been busy giving away £600 million worth of holiday vouchers through fishmongers and fish friers as part of the current campaign!!
Another great success: According to Scottish Quality Salmon, 64% of medium to heavy consumers of fish, equating to 3.2 million people, saw the recent salmon farming advertisements in British newspapers. In total, 25.3 million adults saw the campaign an estimated 2.4 times which represents a massive 60.8 million exposures to their message.
These adverts were the first phase of a two year £3 million campaign intended to counter the negative messages issued by those who want to discredit the salmon farming industry. In addition, SQS wanted to reaffirm the advice given by the Food Standards Agency that oil rich fish, such as Scottish salmon, is a healthy choice.
With such massive exposure, sales of Scottish salmon must have soared over the period of the campaign as consumers react to the positive message in the adverts. Unfortunately, this does not appear to have been the case, especially at a time, when the European Commission are still considering how best to protect Scottish producers.
Whilst Scottish Quality Salmon claim to have created 60 million exposures to their message, the reality is that they are only potential exposures based on the number of readers for each newspaper multiplied by the publication of each advertisement. There is absolutely no guarantee that any reader actually saw the advert at all, let alone assimilated its message. In a straw poll of known salmon consumers who also read the various newspapers in which the adverts appeared, not one was able to confirm that they had seen the advert. In our own case, we, at Callander McDowell knew that the adverts were being published due to a report in IntraFish and therefore specifically watched out for them. We acknowledge that we didn’t buy every paper on every day, but we only saw the advert twice. This is below the estimated exposure and yet we were looking for them.
Advertising agencies tend to base the success of any campaign by how much awareness of the product or message has increased. We know lots of people who are aware of Rolls Royce cars, but it doesn’t mean that anyone will go out and buy one. Exposing 25.3 million adults to the advert does not mean that they will go out and buy Scottish salmon any more than they would have done before the adverts appeared. Sadly, this massive exposure is unlikely to help improve the situation for Scottish farmers, anymore than safeguards will do.
National Seafood Weak 2: Regular readers may remember that last year we discussed National Seafood Week, a countrywide event to promote fish and seafood to UK consumers. Despite claims to the contrary, we, at Callander McDowell, were not convinced that it had been a great success.
The beginning of October brought a repeat of this event and yet again, we wonder how such promotions can help to increase consumer awareness and consumption? Is it sufficient just to tell consumers that it is National Seafood Week and then expect them to rush out and buy more fish and seafood or do they need more incentive?
We, at Callander McDowell certainly believe that if consumers are to be persuaded to eat more fish and seafood, then more must be done than just say it is National Seafood Week.
For a start, most British consumers would be hard pressed to know that it was National Seafood Week. The level of promotion was certainly low key. According to the National Seafood Week website, most supermarkets had signed up to the promotion, yet, this was not really reflected in store. Asda attached a string of six Seafood week pennants to the fresh fish counter. The Coop had nothing. Morrisons offered a competition leaflet.
M&S displayed a small National Seafood Week label on their chilled fish cabinet and offered a tasting on one day of the promotion in a few selected stores. Safeway carried a two-page feature in their magazine, but displayed nothing in store. Tesco had nothing. Sainsburys did not display any National Seafood Week promotional material, but did discount all their fresh fish lines by 20%. However, their only mention as to why they were offering such a wide range of discounts was that it was 'in celebration of National Seafood Week'. They also advertised the discounts on national radio, but made no mention of its relation to the Seafood Week promotion.
The fundamental question is whether it is sufficient to just announce that it is National Seafood Week and then expect that consumers to rush and buy fish, especially those consumers who never usually buy fish and seafood at all. Clearly, such consumers need much more incentive than that. Even consumers, who do regularly buy fish, will need some incentive to be persuaded to buy more. Of all the British supermarkets, only Sainsburys provided any incentive at all with their offer of twenty percent discount. Yet, even this offer may not be enough to persuade some consumers to buy more fish since those consumers who never buy fish are unlikely to be convinced by money off to begin buying it.
Marks & Spencers adopted a different approach. They had held a tasting in some of their larger stores. They offered customers the opportunity to try some of the ready to eat seafood products. This, at least, gave customers who never buy seafood the opportunity to see if they liked it. However, these tastings did not extend to fresh fish. This means that those consumers, who never buy fresh fish such as the young, are unlikely to be convinced to do so.
Promoting fish consumption through a National Seafood Week campaign may sound a good idea on paper. However, the reality is that unless fish is put into the type of products that non-consumers prefer, it is unlikely that they will ever be persuaded to include fish and seafood in their diets. This is why some groups of seafood producers are hoping that restaurant chains like McDonalds and Burger King will include fish dishes in their menus. It will never be enough just to tell the public that they should be eating more fish. Such statements simply fall on deaf ears!
To promote or not to promote …. that is the question? The latest issue of the IntraFish newspaper includes a company profile of the Belgian Delhaize Group, a global supermarket giant with over 2500 stores of which 716 are in Belgium.
In 2002, the Belgian stores sold fresh fish worth Euro 32 million with cod and salmon topping the list of the most popular purchases.
Unlike many supermarkets, Delhaize decided about two years ago to stop any fish and seafood promotions, preferring instead to follow the market price, providing the best possible value for their customers. Guy Denon, the category buyer for Delhaize Belgium said that they had found that if they put, for example cod, on promotion, then sales would quadruple that week. Mr Denon believed that consumers were simply putting the fish in the freezer for future use. Now, without any promotions, consumers are buying just what they want for immediate use and although they are buying less, Delhaize have not found any drop in sales.
However, we, at Callander McDowell, are not convinced by this strategy. We appreciate that Delhaize are a successful company and clearly know what they are doing. Yet, promotions are not necessarily just about increasing sales; they can also encourage consumption by those who currently eat little fish. They also can encourage consumers to try different species, which is important at a time when many commercial fisheries are under threat of over-fishing. For example, the EU is now considering closing most of the European cod fishery, yet cod is one of Delhaize’s most popular fish. Will Delhaize be able to maintain their sales if cod disappears from European waters or will they need to persuade their customers to try something else instead? If their customers are uninterested in any other species than cod, will they simply stop eating fish and buy a totally different protein instead?
In the UK, supermarket promotions have certainly caused a dramatic change in fish consumption. Cod was always the most popular fish for UK consumers, but as supplies have diminished, cod has been replaced by salmon as the UK’s most popular retail fish. Yet, this change to salmon did not happen without promotions. Consumers always believed salmon to be an expensive purchase and never considered buying it. However, as supermarkets began to promote it, consumers started to recognise that it had actually become a value for money choice and sales dramatically increased.
Some consumers might take advantage of promotions to stock up their freezer, but so what, at least they are buying fish. However, many more consumers may use the promotion to try different species or to eat fish more than usual. This is why any such promotion must be welcomed.
Success - but is it ours! The latest issue of the Salmon Farm Monitor, the website for the Salmon Farm Protest Group has thanked their supporters claiming that their Supermarket Watch Campaign has been an outstanding success. Over the six months of the campaign, they claim to have identified more than 100 incidents of mislabelled farmed salmon. They also claim that by reporting these incidents to Trading Standards, they have forced supermarkets to comply with the legislation.
However, we at Callander McDowell would beg to differ. All British supermarkets have readily complied with the legislation ever since it was enacted. Admittedly, there have been some minor transgressions, but such teething problems are inevitable as supermarkets carry such a large range of products. However, most of the incidents identified by the Salmon Farm Protest Group focused on just one or two examples. One of the these was John West smoked salmon and in their case, the processors responsible for this product had been given a short term dispensation by Trading Standards so they could use up their existing packaging first.
The implementation of the new labelling legislation has been successful. Supermarkets have not needed the Salmon Farm Protest Group to remind them of their obligation, as they have universally accepted their responsibility. The supermarkets have acted beyond reproach. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the Salmon Farm Protest Group, which has hi-jacked this legislation to promote their own cause. They have wrongly accused supermarkets of deliberately misleading consumers, when it is they that have actually done so.
The Salmon Farm Protest Group is not the only ones who are concerned about the new labelling legislation. MEP Christine Stihler, supported by Scottish Quality Salmon, has complained to Brussels about the fact that retailers can label fish as coming from more than one origin. Fish Farming Today have highlighted that Tesco label their fresh salmon as being ‘Farmed in Scotland or Norway’. Mrs Stihler says that such labelling misleads consumers who would like to buy Scottish salmon into buying salmon from Norway. However, the labelling is clear since it states that the fish could be Scottish or it could be Norwegian. Any consumer wanting a guarantee that the fish is Scottish can buy their salmon from one of several other retailers all of who are happy to label their fish from one single origin. Clearly, Tesco customers are not so bothered.
However, whilst the Scottish salmon industry accuses Tesco of taking the easy way out on labelling, several other retailers also label fish products in this way, although not on fresh salmon. Marks & Spencer, Sainsburys and Iceland are just three who use multi-origin labelling on some of their products and yet no one appears to be concerned enough to complain in their case. The Scottish salmon industry is using Tesco as yet another excuse as to why consumers appear unselective when choosing the salmon they buy. This is because country of origin is not really a factor in their buying decision. This is why the industry needs to focus on those factors which are important to the consumer, instead of on those which are not.
However, the most immediate challenge to both the industry and the market is not making sure that the fish is properly labelled but rather how to persuade consumers to actually bother reading them!
Seafood Weak!!: There is a train of thought that believes that to increase seafood consumption, it is easier to convince existing consumers to eat more than to persuade those who do not eat any seafood to eat even a small amount. The hurdle for increased consumption is greater for non-consumers than those who already include seafood in their diet. It is therefore not surprising that the main aim of National Seafood Week, which runs in the UK until 11th October is to convince consumers to be more adventurous when it comes to eating seafood. This means that this promotion is clearly aimed at the section of public, who already consumes seafood.
Over 70% of seafood sales are now made up of ‘old favourites’ like cod, haddock, plaice, salmon and prawns. Research from Seafish suggests that 90% of the UK of the population are not even aware that they could choose from over 100 different varieties of seafood. Seafish would like more consumers to try these different types of seafood, however is a promotion like National Seafood Week sufficient incentive to persuade them?
There is a clear distinction between trying to attract the attention of non-consumers and those who already buy seafood. The modern large supermarket is divided into specific areas displaying very different products. It is unlikely that a regular shopper will go up and down every aisle, as they already know what they want. This is one reason that supermarkets change the displays so that the shopper has to break their usual shopping pattern. Those consumers who never eat seafood are unlikely to even pass by the fresh fish counter, let alone stop to look at it. It would be extremely difficult to persuade such non-consumers to even visit the fish counter, if this was the aim of the promotion. However, this is a challenge which the aquaculture and fisheries industries must eventually face because it is clear that the majority of seafood consumers are now aged over 45.
Younger sections of the population rarely eat any seafood at all and there is a risk that as these consumers age, they will continue to refrain from purchasing any seafood at all. There is a view that once consumers reach their mid 40s they have more disposable income to spend on seafood and more time to cook it and therefore are more inclined to buy it. Yet, at the same time, consumers who have never eaten seafood previously are less likely to do so in later life. The challenge will be to persuade the younger age groups to start eating seafood whilst they are still young.
The younger age groups have grown up at a time when the supermarkets have dominated the retail sector. They are used to a convenience way of life. Many are deterred from buying seafood because of the fish heads, eyes, bones and skin and even the smell. Yet at the same time, the seafood industry is always keen to put on a display on the fish counter, which focuses on whole fish, especially large ugly ones. These may be fascinating to look at, but many consumers would never contemplate eating them.
Dealing with whole fish is natural to those who work in the seafood industry, but it is easy to forget how off-putting whole fish can be to the consumer, who does not like to be reminded of the association between the whole fish and the seafood that we eat. Yet, once again, National Seafood Week is launched at Billingsgate Market. This time celebrity fish chef Rick Stein is brought in to do the official functions but this association of celebrity chef, fish and Billingsgate is not newsworthy enough to bring this promotion to the attention of the wider media. Perhaps, something different is now necessary.
In much the same way that the launch of the promotion was not newsworthy, the promotion itself has not managed to raise much interest. As supermarkets are now the main source of seafood in the UK, it was inevitable that the organisers should include them in the plans. These would include cookery demonstrations and recipe ideas. However, observations from several supermarkets have indicated that the promotion has proceeded with more of a whimper than a bang. Given that the intention is to persuade existing consumers to try alternative species, there has been no real evidence of anything different on the supermarket fish counter, nor has there been any promotional material available to point consumers in the right direction. In fact the only evidence of the promotion at all are small signs, in a few supermarket stores declaring that “we support National Seafood Week”. Presumably, consumers interested in the promotion will have to find out what it means themselves.
It has not all been bad news. One supermarket chain has been running a competition as part of National Seafood Week, which is even in the spirit of the promotions’ aims. This is a competition to guess the mystery fish by stating four different names under which it is known. The fish is actually dogfish for those who might like to enter. However, other than the competition leaflet, most consumers would be unaware that this promotion was actually in progress.
With supermarkets now dominating the retail seafood sector, the few remaining independent fishmongers would be expected to make much more effort out of this promotion. Unfortunately, this does not seem to be the case with a random sample of fishmongers visited during the week showing no signs of the promotion at all.
The problem for such promotions is that in today’s sophisticated retail market, they are simply too vague to work. We are not suggesting that this is the case here, but this type of promotion can often be simply justification for the existence of an organisation than for the expected results that they might bring.
We at Callander McDowell, believe that if consumers are to be encouraged to eat alternative fish species, then they must be given an incentive to try these species. A poster, which in this case does not even tell them to do so, is just not enough. The promotion needs to be more targeted in its approach. For example, Seafish would like consumers of cod, haddock, plaice and salmon to try something else. If Seafish would like consumers to try more dogfish, then when a customer buys a piece of cod, haddock plaice or salmon, then give them small piece of dogfish as well, which they can take home and try. This would be little different from the BOGOF type of offer used extensively throughout all supermarket chains. Alternatively, offer these different species at a discounted price, when customers buy the popular species.
Of course, this costs money but surely it is preferable to use promotional funds to subsidise the consumption of these different species rather than on printing costs for posters telling them (or not) to try these other seafood products.
The modern shopping arena is changing. The seafood industry must change with it or be left behind. This is something that the aquaculture industry can also take on board.