A new industry marketing toolkit has been launched to support businesses participating in Seafood Week 2019, which will run from 4-11 October.
Seafood Week is run by Seafish, the public body which supports the £10bn UK seafood industry, as part of its work to encourage consumers to eat more seafood, more often. Seafood businesses from all across the country are invited to take part in the campaign which is delivered from the organisation’s consumer brand ‘Fish is the Dish’ and aims to promote the huge range of delicious seafood available in the UK.
In addition to general promotion and celebration of the wide variety of fish and shellfish on offer, this year’s campaign will also turn the spotlight on a mix of popular and lesser-known species with the following themed activity days:
- Friday 4: Mackerel
- Saturday 5: Prawns
- Sunday 6: Plaice
- Monday 7: Scallops
- Tuesday 8: Mussels
- Wednesday 9: Hake
- Thursday 10: Crab
- Friday 11: Haddock, cod and pollock for fish & chips
There are many ways that businesses can participate in Seafood Week 2019 – from offering product promotions, to running competitions or events, as well as sharing stories on the ways consumers can buy, cook and dine out on great seafood from their own marketing and communication channels.
The new marketing toolkit launched today has a range of resources to help businesses get the most from the campaign, including more information on the 2019 Seafood Week themes, a social media calendar, tips on how to get involved and inspiration to get started.
Marcus Coleman, CEO of Seafish said: “We’re passionate about encouraging consumers to eat more fish and shellfish so that they can enjoy the benefits of this delicious and healthy protein source. Seafish created Seafood Week as a platform to help the seafood industry promote the fantastic range of produce available in the UK, so we’re delighted to be celebrating the fifth year of the campaign in 2019.
“As the countdown continues we’re excited to share more information about our plans for this year. The marketing toolkit is a great resource which will help seafood businesses big or small plan their own activities and make sure that they get the most out of the campaign.”
In 2018 businesses across the whole supply chain got involved in the campaign, running events and championing Seafood Week across their own marketing and social media channels.
Ural Hassan, Director at Poppie’s Fish and Chips, said: “For us, Seafood Week is a great way to hone in on our Poppies values – freshness of fish, and quality of food. That’s all thanks to our wonderful staff: people like our head fishmonger Salih, who has been working with us from our start, and in fish and chips for years and years before. Seafood Week is a great hook to tell these stories and all that matters to us!”
Kathryn Ellaway from Dawnfresh Seafoods said: “Seafood Week is a great way to interact with our retail customers and get more focus on their fish and shellfish categories. This encourages shoppers to not only buy into the category for the first time or buy species they are perhaps more used to, it also encourages them to be a bit bolder and try a new dish or a different species. It’s also a great opportunity to be involved in an industry-wide campaign and we are actively using this years’ campaign opportunity to interact with a number of primary schools with educational activities designed for and with Seafood Week in mind. The engagement Seafish get from their annual campaign is phenomenal, so we can’t wait to get involved again in 2019.”
CJ Jackson, Principal of the Seafood School at Billingsgate, said “A core part of my work at the Seafood School and my role as a Seafish Ambassador is to promote the fabulous array of fish and shellfish available in the UK. Seafood Week is definitely a highlight in the calendar – it’s really fantastic to see the whole industry come together to get everyone talking about the delicious fish and shellfish available and all the great ways you can cook, eat and enjoy it.”
The Seafood Week marketing toolkit is available to download from the Seafish website: https://www.seafish.org/article/seafood-week. Businesses who have already registered to take part will be sent a copy of the toolkit directly.
There’s still time for businesses to get involved in Seafood Week 2019 – for more information contact the Seafish Marketing team on seafish.seafoodweek@seafish.co.uk.
