Southern California-based upscale grocery chain Erewhon recently carried out a campaign with the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) and Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), helping boost awareness of certified seafood in its 14 brick-and-mortar stores, as well as its social media and e-commerce platforms.
Through the “Seafood to enjoy. Labels to trust.” campaign, in-store and online content was designed to help Erewhon shoppers navigate seafood purchasing choices and learn more about the ASC and MSC labels.
“Erewhon is a destination for shoppers who are engaged with quality products, thoughtful sourcing, and what’s next in food, making it an ideal environment to have these conversations directly with shoppers while displaying clear, informative visual prompts at point-of-sale,” ASC Senior Market Development Manager Aaron Flamini said. “Our goal is to help more people understand what’s behind the ASC label and the value of choosing certified farmed seafood."
In-store activations included Erewhon’s first Wellness Event at its new location in Glendale, California, where the retailer directly engaged with more than 500 shoppers in attendance and provided chef-crafted samples, such as ASC-labeled tinned smoked trout from New York-based seafood brand Minnow. The retailer also touted merchandise and certified seafood product giveaways from ASC, MSC, American Tuna, Safe Catch, and Wiley’s Finest.
“More consumers are choosing seafood, and they deserve clear, credible information about how it was sourced. ‘Sustainable’ is one of the most overused words in food, and shoppers shouldn’t have to simply take a brand’s word for it,” Nialls Fallon, a founding partner of Minnow, said in a release. “To us, sustainability means preserving both nature and culture by recognizing the interconnectedness of all of us who love to eat fish and participate in the chain from catching to serving, grounded in respect for its origins.”
As for the campaign’s online content, the retailer rolled out a collaborative campaign with registered dietitian and seafood advocate Mascha Davis, who participated in videos in which she navigated Erewhon’s seafood aisles, showing how she looks for ASC and MSC labels when buying her own seafood to cook at home.
The two-part Instagram Reels series resulted in over 500,000 impressions and 2,000 direct engagements.
The marketing efforts came as the retailer continues to add MSC- and ASC-certified seafood to its physical and digital shelves. According to ASC Marketing Manager for North America Athena Davis, all of Erewhon’s fresh seafood selections are ASC- and MSC-certified and labeled.
“We anticipate an increase in sourcing and labeling of ASC- and MSC-certified products in additional Erewhon store departments as our collaboration grows,” Davis told SeafoodSource. “The fact that six new labeled products alone were added [in September] – with two additional new in August – demonstrates that growth in real time, so we view this as just the beginning.”
Consumer research from ASC and MSC found that only 52 percent of U.S. seafood consumers actually recognize seafood certification labels, but shoppers are far more likely to trust independent certification programs like ASC for seafood sustainability information (21 percent) than from retailers (11 percent) or seafood brands (11 percent).
In pack tests involving 9,195 consumers, products showing the ASC sustainability label were rated more trustworthy and more likely to be purchased than the alternative certification labels tested.
Similarly, 82 percent of MSC-aware U.S. consumers said they trust the label, marking a big jump from 73 percent in 2024. While 32 percent said they have at least some understanding of what the MSC label represents, 60 percent of U.S. seafood consumers stated that seeing the MSC label makes them more likely to purchase a product.
“Together, these findings point to a clear opportunity: Shoppers are paying attention, but they need simple, credible signals to help turn that interest into informed choices. Trustworthy certification labels provide that signal, connecting what shoppers want to know about their seafood with independent standards and traceability they can recognize on the shelf,” ASC and MSC said.
