Comparative Marketing Is Gutting the Seafood Industry - Let's Fix It.
Comparison is the thief of joy - and of progress in seafood consumer perception.
As an industry, if we behaved on the playground the way we act towards each other in our marketing, we’d be sent straight to the principal's office. Seafood marketing seems to have developed the habit of relying on divisive promotion tactics, pitting farmed vs wild, species against species, and producer against producer.
So, here we come again with the cold hard truths - these tactics aren’t working.
Misinformation thrives, trust in seafood crumbles, and consumers don’t just avoid "your" seafood—they avoid seafood all together. And on a human level, it just makes us all look mean, and who wants to buy fish from someone who’s mean? Basic, but true.
How Did We Get Here?
As we are all more than aware, the industry is rife with divisiveness behind the scenes which bubbles to the surface in our marketing campaigns. When scoping seafood ads online, particularly on social media, comparative marketing looks like all the seafood industry seems to know how to do. And it’s not working. Are we seeing our numbers go up? More interest and engagement from consumers, especially from younger audiences? No. Then we need to have a good hard look at the approach.
Sales are dipping. According to SeafoodSource , seafood retail prices in the U.S. have been going down for most of 2024, but despite the price drops, fresh seafood sales dipped 3 percent in June. They also reported that US retail seafood sales didn't experience the holiday bump in Dec 2024 they usually expect. Total fresh seafood sales dropped 5.4 percent by value compared to Dec 2023, according to Circana. Add to that, shelf-stable options, an area that was seeing positive sales trends recently, declined 1.2 percent by value.
Misinformation is thriving. Mean-girl-style comparisons on social media serve confusion to consumers, open up space for negative narratives from outside industry sources, and erode trust in seafood as a whole.
Fragmentation is killing us. Unlike beef, pork, and chicken, which market themselves as unified categories, seafood is splintered into factions. Consumers, already tired and often tight budgeted, become overwhelmed and opt out entirely.
Comparative marketing isn’t inherently bad. In highly saturated categories like breakfast cereal, laundry detergent, toothpaste, and toiler paper, these ads can thrive because consumers are already aware of their need for the product.
But seafood isn’t toothpaste. 9 out of 10 dentists don’t have our back.
Anyone who’s ever put a product out to the world likely knows this, but let’s refresh for fun. Consumer awareness can be broken down roughly into 5 stages:
Unaware - They don’t even know they have a problem to solve
Problem Aware - They are aware of their problem and looking for a solution
Solution Aware - They know there is a solution, but don’t know there is a product to solve it
Product Aware - They know your product exists, but aren’t entirely convinced it will solve their problem
Most Aware - They are well aware of the product in a saturated market and need to be convinced that yours is the best option
The seafood industry seems to operate under the assumption that the majority of consumers are at Stage 4 or 5 of market awareness - already familiar with seafood and just needing to be convinced why your product is best. This speaks to the siloed mentality we’ve identified before in the industry, manifesting as a disconnect between seafood purveyors and consumers, particularly the younger generations.
In reality, most consumers are at Stage 1 or 2. Maybe 3. Either A) seafood isn’t showing up on their radar. B) They're aware that they would like to feel physically and ethically better about their food choices. Or C), they’re aware they should eat more healthily or sustainably but aren’t aware that seafood checks those boxes. They aren’t thinking about which seafood to choose. We’re going to hold your hand when we say this - most people aren’t thinking about seafood. At all.
How Can We Change Our Approach?
Forget getting people to buy your seafood. We just need to get people to buy seafood, period. That means stepping back from the silo mentality and focusing on the bigger picture: building trust, excitement, and accessibility for seafood as a category.
The average consumer doesn’t live, eat, breathe, and sleep seafood the way we do, and they never will. They’re busy trying to make it through life, feed themselves and their families, and occasionally touch grass. Let’s collectively accept that. They’re not paying attention to industry squabbles and we shouldn’t expect them to. If we want to create a relatable and reliable narrative, we need to get out of our own heads and start thinking like the consumer.
Put yourself in your audience’s shoes. You’re scrolling through your social media of choice, you come across these posts:
Video : A fisherman looks over the stern of a vessel at sunset over a rolling sea - “Working like this, being hands on out here, knowing what we’re bringing in. I just think it’s amazing. It’s the greatest food in the world, I hope everyone gets to enjoy it.”
Vs.
Carousel Imagery : Opening slide of a beautiful seafood dish, 3 slides of dubious seafood, final slide of a positive brand example of their seafood. - “We know you love seafood, but… can you really be confident of the quality, the safety, the sustainability? Not unless it's __________ brand.”
Option 1: Feels filled with genuine confidence in the product from an authentic voice. We want to support that guy, he seems nice.
Option 2. Congratulations. You’ve just given consumers 3 new fears they didn’t know they needed to have.
This is the most basic of basic examples, but you can feel the difference. The first invites viewers into the story, making them want to explore more, while the second immediately delivers a sense of discomfort. Not the goal.
Putting Change Into Action
While we might be taking a firm handed approach to this point, the truth is we’re excited. There are so many opportunities to market seafood as a whole. There’s diversity, flavor, and texture profiles to appeal to consumers across the board. There are sustainability touchpoints and health benefits to match any buyer preference. Seafood is literally always an option, even for the kiddos who swear they don’t like fish but will put away a few salmon hot dogs. This is a massive advantage if we can adapt our thinking to collectively wield it.
So, how do we make this happen? Here are some ideas to start a positive narrative shift:
Show up as collaborative, not competitive. For most industry folks seafood isn’t a world that you just wander into. Whatever facet of the industry you work in, you probably have a seafood story that led you here. That’s something we all share, so launching campaigns that promote seafood as a whole rather than tearing each other down can actually infuse your promotions with more authenticity than you think. Focusing on points like nutritional value, versatility, ease of prep, and the category being a planet-friendly protein help buyers open up to their first step - giving a closer look at the seafood section.
Simplify the buying process. Stop making it complicated for consumers to buy seafood. The easier it is, the more likely they’ll do it. We’re not saying don’t promote your brand at all. We’re saying make it easier for consumers to discover why they should buy without bombarding them with why they shouldn’t buy (except for yours). Sea Tales is an example doing fine work of this. With QR codes on their packaging that take the consumer straight to their website with product info, recipes, and a video story of the fisherman who caught it in a user-friendly format, it draws the viewer into the seafood experience without making it about us vs them. Proof that you can elevate your product without sniping at others.
Learn from the best. Brands like Ora King Salmon, Loch Duart Salmon, Fishwife , and GoodFish Seafood are already leading the way with innovative, consumer-friendly marketing, particularly on socials where consumers are hanging out. None of them take swipes at other brands, different catch, raising, processing styles, or species. They show BTS views of the good, the challenging, and the hilarious of what it takes to build a seafood business. They’re sharing their love of seafood as a whole with consumers - that’s it. And it’s working.
Make it accessible. Not everyone is ready to tackle seafood crudo or can convince their kids to snack on sardines. This isn’t their failing, and they shouldn’t be made to feel lesser for it. The fastest way to alienate your customers is to make them feel bad about themselves in any way, so don’t do it. In addition to more advanced offerings, think of seafood gateways that everyone can enjoy: prawn tacos, a healthy take on at home fish & chips, easy to whip up poke bowls, even the humble tuna melt. They all have a place in making seafood more accessible. These kinds of options also open up families to more seafood options, familiarizing the next, next generation to be fish friendly.
Make it fun. This one is no surprise - people like fun! Creating content that’s entertaining, approachable, perhaps a little sexy, and achievable, like the viral imitation crab legs trend, will go further with your audience. Collaborate with chefs, influencers, and food educators who bring personality and passion to the table. But let’s take it offline for a sec and into the world - we need to get seafood into settings where people are already having a good time. Festivals, concerts, and sporting events are all hotspots ideal for seafood to slide in, like Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers did at New York's UBS Arena. Seal the experience by wrapping it up with some fun, snappy packaging like Tiny Fish Co and JOSE Gourmet with their eye-catching tinned fish boxes. If something makes people happy, chances are they’ll share it with their friends. See where we’re going with this?
We have great belief that seafood has the potential to market itself with the collective category spirit in mind, but know this isn’t an overnight fix.
It’s our personal connections to the seafood community and our intimate understanding of its nuances, challenges, and triumphs that drive us to advocate for the sector as a whole. Our vision is to bring together seafood harvesters, producers, and purveyors to create a category wide movement that transforms consumer perceptions of seafood, inspires a new generation of enthusiasts, and drives positive change within the industry. And that vision, which we think is a pretty good one, needs all of us realizing we're on the same team.
As we see it from the high level, the seafood industry has a choice: keep tearing each other down, or start building seafood up. The future of the category depends on unity, creativity, and a commitment to changing the narrative. Let’s start rowing this boat together.
