ABOUT FACE

NANCY GRIFFIN

Families just like yours grow or harvest much of the food we eat. A new seafood campaign is the latest in a wave by food industry groups seeking to bring that message to consumers through generic marketing programs using industry members consumers can recognize and trust.

The new education and public relations campaign aimed at consumers is reminiscent of the recent American Meat Institute-sponsored beef ads featuring cattle ranchers at home serving dinner to their families. (See related article, Page 36.) It seeks to inform consumers that commercial fishermen are good guys and not anti-environmentalists.

"We want to provide wall-sized murals in supermarkets that will show fishermen in a boat, catching fish -- fishermen that could be members of the consumers' families," explained Jim Fullilove, national coordinator of the National Fisheries Institute's "Seafood for America" campaign, slated to kick off later this year.

This campaign is three-pronged. NFI, based in Arlington, Va., hopes it will let consumers know that commercial fishermen are not out to destroy the environment or the resource, and will subtly encourage them to understand that bills such as net bans affect fishing families. Like any promotional campaign, another aim is to increase consumption and sales.

"The signs will say 'From Our Crew to Yours.' We want to let people see fishermen who look like members of their own family, who live in the same region and depend on catching local fish for a living," said Fullilove.

"If states continue to ban nets, some local species will very quickly be removed from menus and seafood counters. Fresh, locally caught species will be unavailable, off-limits to consumers."

Commercial fishing has been restricted by some states, such as California, Louisiana and Florida, which banned the use of nets in state waters, severely curtailing the commercial catch of some species.

As soon as local New Jersey fishing organizations raise enough money to fund the pilot program, "Seafood for America" is expected to kick off in some of Wakefern's Shop-Rite markets in north and north-central New Jersey with point-of-purchase materials that will include recipes, books and videos, according to a merchandising executive there.

"[The] industry lost a couple of battles in California, Florida and Louisiana," said Clare Vanderbeek, vice president of communications for NFI. "The recreational fishing industry's plan seems to be to wipe out near-shore commercial fishing. We thought the best way to combat this effort was to create consumer awareness.

As a result of the ban, landings of Louisiana's speckled trout dropped 96% while the price jumped 73%, commercial mullet landings stopped altogether and the price increased 91.5%, Black Drum dropped 92% and the price rose 89%, and flounder dropped 80% and prices rose 45%.

To help offset effects such as these, the Seafood America program will officially kick off at Fish Expo, a commercial fishing trade show held in Seattle in September and Boston in October, with scheduled panel discussions and a booth to distribute materials, said Niels Moore, NFI coordinator for Seafood for America.

"In retail stores we'll try to let consumers know where the product is coming from," Vanderbeek said.

The industry hopes to get the message across to consumers that "fishing to provide seafood for consumers is a dangerous but important way of life for some people in the local economy," she continued, and that many families depend on it.

"Consumers have lost contact with the farmer and the harvester," said Vanderbeek. "This campaign is trying to bring them closer."

NFI had a successful model to examine while the concept of Seafood America was germinating: a generic campaign to encourage salmon consumption has joined the ranks of high-profile programs of the beef and milk industries.

A continued campaign by Salmon Marketers International, Seattle, "reminds" shoppers to eat salmon, featuring drive-time radio ads in the targeted cities, point-of-purchase materials and work with the food media.

This year it will kick off National Seafood Month Oct. 1 in Miami and work its way up the coast to Boston, Washington and Baltimore, then travel to Atlanta, San Francisco and Seattle and back again.

In its third year, the campaign has an established track record, according to Jeanne McKnight, a spokeswoman for SMI.

"Research shows that consumers will eat more salmon if they're reminded ," said McKnight.

Something must be working, she added: salmon consumption jumped 27% last year.

"That's the biggest jump ever in history." NFI's top two explanations for the increase? Year-round availability and marketing by seafood groups.

"We had 100% participation by retailers" in the Denver, San Francisco and Washington-Baltimore target cities, said McKnight.

Results for overall participation also exceeded expectations. "Our goal was to have 75% of the full-service retail counters use our recipes and brochures, but we had 83%. Retailers really found them useful. Customers said they were surprised at how easy it was to cook salmon."

Focus groups told SMI they don't think about salmon year-round and they worry they won't know how to cook it. Heather Scholefield, SMI's marketing director, said the seven radio spots tell afternoon drive-time listeners that salmon is readily available year-round and easy to cook.

The SMI promotion is a shining example of how retailers stand to benefit from generic campaigns, according to Schofield: "Salmon sales for retailers increased between 20% and 80% when the promotion ran. One retailer said he saw a 250% increase."

Based on the success of other generic marketing programs, the prognosis is good for the seafood campaign to have a noticeable effect on seafood sales and consumption. A U.S. Department of Agriculture analysis of the effect of generic promotions on the dairy industry determined that between September 1994 and September 1995, advertising campaigns increased fluid milk sales by 4.2% and cheese sales by 25.%, according to Dairy Management Inc., Rosemont, Ill.