Executives from the Marine Harvest Group and the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) joined forces on 26 April at Seafood Expo Global/Seafood Processing Global to unveil the results of their recent collaborative efforts involving the newly-launched ASC Marketing Toolkit.
Marine Harvest is the first of ASC’s partners to implement the new aid, freshly incorporated into the farmed salmon producer’s promotional materials at its Brussels booth. The toolkit aims to help seafood marketing departments, visual design teams and content creators to develop consistent materials regarding their ASC-certified products.
“It’s a tool to help people promote the value of ASC certification,” said ASC CEO Chris Ninnes during a press conference onsite at Marine Harvest’s booth at SEG16.
On the toolkit’s official launch day, Ola Brattvoll, COO of sales and marketing of Marine Harvest, said collaborating with ASC has served to elevate many of his company's overarching goals.
“We are delighted to be the first ASC partner to utilize elements from the new ASC Marketing Toolkit at our booth," Brattvoll said. “This once more underlines our vision of leading the 'Blue Revolution' and our commitment to responsible aquaculture. With over 40 of our salmon farms already ASC-certified, and some 15 more under assessment, we are well underway to fulfill our commitment to be 100 percent ASC-certified by 2020.”
The hunger for sustainable seafood is already present among consumers, but awareness of the importance and meaning of sustainable aquaculture certifications - such as ASC's - remains insufficient, according to Brattvoll.
“We know that consumers are looking for sustainable farmed salmon, and they’re looking for salmon that can be certified by third parties. But there is a lot of work to be done to increase the awareness and the knowledge about ASC sustainability among retailers and consumers," he said.
Marine Harvest’s utilization of the ASC Marketing Toolkit to elevate sustainable aquaculture messaging within its exposition booth design acts as an example of what is to come in retail, said ASC’s Ninnes.
“If you look around at the displays that you see with the promotion of responsibility, with the promotion of sustainability – in a way, this is a vision of what retail will look like in the future. This is what retail should aspire to,” he said.
The toolkit is now available for ASC affiliates to use online, and includes original artwork, icons, approved copy, examples of posters and pamphlet designs to be used in-store and essential advice on logo usage. It will be updated and revised at regular intervals in order to meet partner needs, said ASC.
Those interested in accessing the toolkit can contact the ASC Communications department at [email protected]. Attendees of the 2016 Seafood Expo Global event can visit Marine Harvest in Hall 5, booth 545, for more details.
