Seafish, the UK's authority on seafood, reports a superb response to its 'Fish is the Dish' campaign. Launched in October, it has so far reached 120,000 consumers (twice as many as anticipated by this early stage) and this week was ranked the UK's 15th 'Most Talked About' blogging campaign by the Tots 100 Brand Index - just two places behind Tesco.
Fish is the Dish is a hardworking digital campaign using website, Facebook and Twitter to engage mums in the idea that 'Fish is Easy'. Whilst not traditional heavy users of seafood, mums are a prime target for messages about increased fish consumption because having children in the household means they are receptive to ideas and information about food and health. They are also known to be heavy internet users. Susanna Scott (A Modern Mother) is the founder of BritMums (the UK's largest parent blogging community) and was one of the bloggers initially targeted by Seafish. She says, "Like a lot of busy mums I was quite sceptical at first about preparing seafood and how much of it I could get my children to eat. Having tried a number of the Seafish recipes I am proud to say my entire family are now converts to the fish eating habit. I have been only too pleased to spread the word about Fish is the Dish to my own friends and contacts."
Seafood industry stakeholders are also encouraged to engage with Fish is the Dish as a new means to reach potential consumers. So far, Lyons Seafood, Scottish Shellfish Marketing Group, Young's Seafood and Delish Fish have all got involved, providing packs of seafood for bloggers, encouraging the generation of more content and publicity. Jo Dunlop of Seafish says, "Fish is the Dish has got off to a fantastic start. We have had strong participation, brilliant feedback from our mum community and the average dwell time on the website is over ten minutes. "The campaign has also demonstrated superb value for money - we were particularly delighted to rank at 15 in the Tots 100 Index given the minimal size of our budget compared to that of other top ranked brands such as Tesco, Disney and X-Factor. This shows just how much it is possible to achieve with online techniques provided that the right messages are targeted at the right people."
Plans for 2012 include a 'Fish is the Dish' roadshow to kick start local conversations about the project. This will link up with local mums, kids, bloggers, media, chefs, fishermen, retailers and other industry stakeholders.
How industry can get involved in Fish is the Dish:
· By supplying a logo and links for the supplier pages of the new website to Jo Dunlop via email j_dunlop@seafish.co.uk or telephone 0131 524 8684. · Providing recipes and useful hints/tips – you can upload your own company recipes to the website. http://www.fishisthedish.co.uk
· Follow the new campaign on Twitter @fishisthedish
· ‘Like’ the campaign on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/fishisthedish and feel free to put up your own comments, recipes and hints and tips here too.
