At entertainment and sports venues across the United States, where fans often enjoy pizza, hot dogs, nachos, and other stadium cuisine staples, seafood is typically absent from arena menus.
A newly minted partnership is on a mission to change that, however, and has picked a seafood-loving city to launch its innovative campaign: Seattle, Washington.
“Coming out of the Covid era, U.S. consumers have retained their desire to live healthier lifestyles while also wanting to return to activities they enjoyed pre-Covid, such as attending sports events and concerts,” Association of Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers (GAPP) CEO Craig Morris told SeafoodSource. “When we crunched the data on what food offerings were available at these entertainment venues, we found the availability of healthy seafood options sorely lacking.”
In partnership with Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.-based seafood supplier Trident Seafoods, GAPP reached out to Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, the principal entertainment venue in the city for large concerts and the home of the National Hockey League’s (NHL) newest franchise, the Seattle Kraken.
The arena, which originally opened in 1962 but underwent a USD 1.15 billion (EUR 1.05 billion) renovation in 2021 to welcome the Kraken, is on a purpose-driven journey to be the first carbon-neutral entertainment venue in the world – a mission that aligns with the eco-conscious goals of many seafood suppliers.
“We knew that the outstanding sustainability story of wild Alaska pollock, including our amazingly low carbon footprint confirmed by our independent, peer-reviewed industry life cycle assessment, would be a good starting point on a conversation about bringing more seafood options to fans attending events there,” Morris said.
After emphasizing the shared goals between the pollock industry and Climate Pledge Arena, Trident secured a unique partnership with the Oak View Group, an American global advisory, development, and investment company for the sports and live entertainment industries, to establish its footprint at the venue.
This partnership includes a sponsored food marketplace at the arena, Fork & Fin, which serves several Alaska pollock dishes. Offerings include fish tacos, fish and chips, surimi seafood mac and cheese, and a deconstructed surimi seafood crab rangoon dip served with wonton chips.
To further market the product and entice fans to try out the seafood while attending an event, both the arena and the Kraken also declared Alaska pollock as its official whitefish near the end of the last NHL season.
“[Climate Pledge Arena’s] vision and mission align with Trident and GAPP, and we’re proud to partner to bring attention to wild Alaska pollock as one of the most climate-friendly proteins available today,” Trident Executive Vice President of North America Sales Melody Conner told SeafoodSource.
Climate Pledge Arena has a capacity of just over 18,000 fans for hockey games and expects over 2 million guests to walk through its doors over the next year, as it plans to host over 160 total events across 22 genres, Conner added. The ability to serve Alaska pollock to such a wide consumer base “given the reach of events Climate Pledge has throughout the year is amazing,” she said.
Sales of wild Alaska pollock items for the two months after the groups established the partnership, and before the NHL season ended, exceeded GAPP’s sales and growth goals.
“In fact, [it exceeded expectations] so much so that this coming year we plan to have additional wild Alaska pollock items available for sale in other areas around the arena,” Morris said.
The success at Climate Pledge Arena also led GAPP executives “to conclude that entertainment venue food offerings are indeed ripe for disruption and that seafood should have more of a place alongside hot dogs and chicken tenders than it does today,” Morris said.
In an attempt to continue widening its reach, GAPP established a social media partnership with Major League Baseball outfielder A.J. Pollock earlier this year “so he can talk to his 130,000 followers about our fish,” Morris said.
“Obviously, we love the name tie-in but also really love the family-focused social [content] he’s done on his platforms,” Morris said. “The engagement we’ve seen on those posts have been exactly what we want, where people first chuckle at the partnership due to the coincidence in the name but then go on to learn more about the health and sustainability benefits of wild Alaska pollock.”
GAPP also ran a full-page ad in the program handed out at the 2023 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, which took place at T-Mobile Park in Seattle in July.
“We thought it would be opportune to welcome the tens of thousands of fans who came to the city for the week-long series of events with an advertisement that outlined how Seattle is home to the wild Alaska pollock fleet and also use that opportunity to introduce fans to the amazing attributes of the fish,” Morris said.
To cover all of its Seattle sports bases, GAPP is running a similar ad this year in the program handed out at Lumen Field for Seattle Seahawks National Football League games, which draw crowds of just under 70,000 fans. It also has an ongoing partnership with a local Collegiate Baseball League franchise, the Dub-Sea Fish Sticks.
"[The Fish Sticks] throw out a whole wild Alaska pollock before each game, serve wild Alaska pollock in the stands, and share the GAPP, Trident Seafoods, and Global Seas logos on their social posts,” Morris said.“All of these campaigns are a way to not only make a personal connection with fans that provides them with a little [education] about Seattle’s tie to the wild Alaska pollock fishery but, also, while they are reading, get them to learn more about our amazing fish and imprint a positive association with it in their minds.”
Photo courtesy of GAPP
