The Food Group’s “Street Team” drops Louisiana Seafood promotional material and signage at Amy’s Seafood in New Orleans. Photo: The Food Group
Editors Note:
This is a series of articles from the Louisiana Seafood Board’s 2012 Annual Report. The report has been mailed to the Louisiana seafood community as well as state and national legislators. It is also available online and can be downloaded for printing.
By-the-Numbers approach to Build Consumer Confidence
Surveying about 1,000 seafood consumers from every region of the nation – from Boston to San Francisco and Minneapolis to the Florida Keys – the Louisiana Seafood Board has turned marketing into a science by annually measuring end-user responses.
Consumer opinion factors heavily into the board’s ongoing actions to position and promote Louisiana seafood as a premium brand worldwide.
The board commissioned three surveys in response to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spills to determine its impact on consumers’ attitudes and behaviors. Results from these studies now serve as the foundation of the $15 million Seafood Marketing Campaign.
BP provided funding of $2 million to implement a series of studies to track consumer perception. All the surveys were conducted by Louisiana State University, with the first being done in December 2010. A second study followed in April 2011 and a third in March 2012.
Findings show that concern regarding seafood remains elevated. In 2010, 80 percent of consumers expressed concern about the effects of the oil spill and dispersants. In early 2012, 76 percent still had concerns, showing a drop of a mere 4 percentage points.
Effect on Consumption
Washington, D.C. residents enjoy Louisiana oysters prepared by Chef Bahr at a reception near Capitol Hill. Photo: Ed Lallo/Louisiana Seafood News
In 2012, 29 percent of national consumers indicated they changed their seafood consumption as a result of the oil spill and concern about its potential effect on seafood safety. This latest number is up from 2010 (23.4 percent) and 2011 (23.1 percent).
Of consumers who changed their seafood consumption, 22 percent shifted away from either all Gulf seafood or certain types of Gulf seafood completely. These consumers say they are more likely to switch to other sources – such as Alaska, the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean, freshwater species or imported seafood.
Consumers also have changed their seafood consumption habits, with 90 percent saying it is critical to see the product to determine freshness before buying it.
Message Testing
Approximately half of the seafood consumers surveyed indicate they got their news on the oil spill from television. Online information, however, has been responsible for a majority of those who have changed their seafood consumption behavior.
The board’s surveying tested a variety of seafood messages to determine how the general public would best receive them.
Results show the most important message for consumers after an event such as the oil spill is: “Fishing waters are only opened to fishing after the seafood from that area is tested and deemed safe.”
Action Plan
Tracking consumer perceptions, the board has concentrated its efforts to promote Louisiana seafood in major metropolitan markets across the nation. Graham Group, the advertising agency hired to promote Louisiana sea- food to consumers, based the “Demand It” campaign on these findings.
Consumers were targeted through television and online campaigns to ask for Louisiana seafood. The ads, high- lighting the fishermen and harvesters of seafood, targeted consumers to change their consumption behavior, while enticing restaurants and retail stores into making it readily available.
Elevating the profile of Louisiana seafood products is in the hands of The Food Group, the agency charged with promoting the state’s seafood through the supply chain.
Seafood buyers and chefs are exposed to messaging that positions Louisiana seafood as a premium product – and, as consumers “Demand It” – they are equipped with access to the product itself.
Certified Louisiana Seafood
Studies show the origin of seafood is important to buyers, chefs and consumers. A strong preference has been shown by all groups to know where shellfish is harvested and finfish is landed.
Of the consumers changing their seafood consumption, 76 percent want to know where the product was caught. Of those who have not changed consumption habits, 57 percent want to know where the product was caught.
The Louisiana Seafood Board, working closely with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, listened to the concerns of seafood buyers – and acted on their behalf and the state’s commercial fishing community.
The new Louisiana Certified Seafood Program is a multi-agency, origin- based certification program aimed at establishing a unified brand to attract consumers, foodservice and seafood distribution buyers. It gives consumers the confidence to know the seafood they are eating was “caught, landed and processed” in Louisiana.
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