Page 37 - Retail World March 2021

A DIVE INTO AUSSIE SEAFOOD Retail World caught up with Seafood Industry Australia (SIA) CEO Veronica Papacosta to discuss the year that was, campaigns and initiatives, and the need to support Aussie seafood. As it was for most businesses, industries, and communities, 2020 was a hard year for the Australian seafood industry. “We battled fires \[and\] floods, and the Covid-19 pandemic closed the export market and the foodservice sector, two of our primary markets,” Ms Papacosta said. “\[We\] then rounded out the year caught in a trade rift with China.” In November, however, SIA launched the Australian seafood industry’s consumer-facing brand, Great Australian Seafood, accompanied by its first ever national marketing campaign, with the theme ‘Great Australian seafood: easy as’, supported by the federal government under the $1 billion Covid-19 Relief and Recovery Fund. The 12-month campaign includes a TV commercial airing on all regional metro stations, along with streaming platforms and on-demand, celebrating Australian seafood. Ms Papacosta says the campaign, led by industry for industry, promotes domestic sales and provides a boost to the entire Australian seafood industry supply chain as it recovers from the 2020 economic crisis. “It’s been designed to drive consumers to support seafood retailers, because we know it’s our retailers who are the industry face to consumers,” she said. “We want to break the mindset of consumers thinking cooking seafood is hard, by reminding them it’s actually ‘easy as’.” SIA is hoping mainly to influence and inspire consumers to add more Australian seafood into their diets. “The campaign celebrates Australian seafood, its ties to Aussie culture, and, importantly, encourages each and every Australian to eat more Aussie seafood,” Ms Papacosta said. “We’ve tapped into what makes us Aussies, and we hope people will have a laugh, and of course, throw another prawn on the barbecue.” She adds that consumer support for domestic produce is strong in the wake of coronavirus, with behaviour shifting to prioritise locally grown and made products. “There’s never been a more timely opportunity for us to launch our consumer brand campaign,” Ms Papacosta said, “and we’re excited to join consumers as they re-evaluate their purchasing routines and where Australian seafood is positioned in their minds.” Beyond the TV commercial, SIA has also rolled out billboards, shopping centre message boards, roadside posters, an extensive social media campaign, and a new website (greataustraliaseafood.com.au) where the ‘Great Australian Seafood Fish Finder’ can be found. “The Fish Finder allows customers to search by postcode to find seafood retailers near them,” Ms Papacosta said. “Please jump onto the website to make sure that your business is listed correctly. Email us on info@seafoodindustryaustralia.com.au with any changes you need, and we’ll make it happen. Easy as!” Christmas sales The festive season brought 30 per cent growth in December seafood sales, which Ms Papacosta describes as “phenomenal”. “We needed a bumper Christmas period to help us claw our way back,” she said. “We called on the community to support us and switch one meal on the Christmas table to Australian seafood, and we’re beyond thrilled to report they did just that. It’s encouraging to see so many Aussies supporting their local seafood producers and we hope this continues. “While we’ve had wonderful festive sales, this doesn’t mean we’re completely in the clear, but this goes a long way to help. Our key foodservice and export markets are still trending down, and as an industry we continue to be impacted by the ongoing trade rift with China.” SIA launches e-shop SIA has recently launched its retailer e-shop to supply retailers with “high quality, visually appealing” recipe cards and collateral under the Great Australian Seafood brand. “We did a very limited run \[of these\] to coincide with the Great Australian Seafood launch, to gauge interest, and retailers and consumers alike have loved them,” Ms Papacosta said. SIA’s plan is to refresh the creative and extend the offering over time to align with market trends and demand. “If there’s something specific you’d like to see in the shop, like caps, aprons and ice-spikes, please get in touch to let us know and we’ll do our best to source them for you,” Ms Papacosta said. “There’ll be a small cost associated with the shop to cover printing and postage.” Parting words On behalf of the overall Australian seafood industry, SIA says it needs Aussies to continue to support their local seafood industry. “We’ve called on Aussies to switch one meal a week to Australian seafood,” Ms Papacosta said. “We’ve calculated that if just one per cent of the population committed to changing one meal a week to locally sourced Australian seafood, like prawns, salmon or snapper, that would be more than 250,000 meals per week of Australian seafood on tables around the country.” SEAFOOD MAR, 2021 RETAIL WORLD 35