The Seafood Nutrition Partnership, the National Fisheries Institute, and other organizations and companies are going all out to educate consumers about the benefits of eating seafood during National Seafood Month and Pescatarian Month, both celebrated in October.
As the highlight of the campaign, SNP, along with the National Seafood Council Task Force and the Seafood4Health Action Coalition, are launching a pilot campaign, “Celebrate Seafood.”
The multifaceted campaign involves encouraging grocery chains, foodservice establishments, and chefs to push Americans to eat the “delicious, healthy bounty of seafood,” according to SNP.
“After more consumers purchased seafood at retail throughout 2020 and 2021, now is the time to reinforce consumers' newfound love for seafood and its health benefits,” SNP said. “Celebrate Seafood is both a rallying cry to the industry as well as an example of an umbrella tagline that can be customized by companies and organizations to fit their marketing needs for October’s National Seafood Month.”
SNP President Linda Cornish encouraged the seafood industry to engage in the campaign.
“Get two networking contacts from this afternoon and invite them to celebrate seafood personally with a dinner or lunch, or have [a seafood] dinner or lunch with family or friends,” she urged at SNP’s State of the Science Symposium in Washington, D.C., U.S.A., on 22 September. “It starts with ourselves.”
The campaign also includes retail promotions with an educational component, Cornish said. As part of the campaign, throughout October, San Antonio, Texas, U.S.A.-based grocery chain H-E-B will feature Alaska seafood products in partnership with the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, as well as products with Best Aquaculture Practices certification.
Sunbury, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.-based Weis Markets will have a team of dietitians showcasing products from Beaver Street Fisheries, Eastern Fish Company, Rich Products’ SeaPak brand, and True North Seafood.
Weis will include salmon and scallop recipes in its magazine during October and utilize the “Celebrate Seafood” signage in-store, in its circular, in media, and on social media.
Austin, Texas, U.S.A.-based Whole Foods Market and Rochester, New York, U.S.A.-based Wegmans have both planned digital advertising programs centered on boosting frozen seafood sales using sustainability-focused messaging that ties human health together with the health of the planet.
SNP is also awarding prizes – from free seafood to a one-on-one cooking class with celebrity chef Rick Moonen – to consumers participating in the campaign.
"We’re encouraging consumers to participate and use #celebrateseafood, compete in recipe and photo contests, and overall have fun celebrating all that seafood has to offer,” SNP said.
Seafood industry members can utilize the Celebrate Seafood Toolkit and logos and graphics to create customized campaigns.
SNP is working with each grocery chain to ensure they’re collecting data and metrics to “evaluate the impact of positive consumer messaging and see what works to motivate more seafood consumption,” the organization said.
Separately, for National Pescatarian Month, NFI’s “Dish on Fish” blog will feature new fish and shellfish recipes, nutritional information, and an e-cookbook.
National Pescatarian Month is designed to celebrate those who have adopted a healthy pescatarian diet and lifestyle, as well as to encourage everyone to make room on their menus for more seafood, NFI said.
“We’ve had great success reaching pescatarians and others through Dish on Fish and its sponsorship of National Pescatarian Month,” NFI Senior Vice President Judy Dashiell said. “We’re really excited to build on that here in the initiative’s third year and beyond.”
NFI has asked its members and their retail and foodservice partners to help promote National Pescatarian Month, touting the health benefits of a pescetarian diet.
“We hope it provides one more avenue for customers to ‘Go Pescatarian’ by choosing to feed their families seafood,” Dashiell said.
Image courtesy of Seafood Nutrition Partnership
