Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
of seafood to the public that rate various seafood species along a range of 'good' to
'bad' for the marine environment. The Aquarium's advisory programme is a step
removed from directly influencing consumers, undertaking instead to influence the
purchasing process and consequently the list of which seafood species retailers
make available to their customers at the store or restaurant level.
Although the Aquarium team has been operating 'behind the scenes' to help
shift the procurement practices of its corporate partners, additional opportunities
have emerged for partners to both educate the consumers and highlight the actions
they have taken to be more environmentally responsible. As awareness of seafood
sustainability grows, more companies will be interested in developing a marketing
edge around actions they have taken. To date, Ahold USA has not implemented a full
marketing campaign around the partnership with the Aquarium, but Giant-Carlisle
does actively promote the ChoiceCatch programme in its stores. Giant-Carlisle,
one of Ahold USA's operating companies and a leading supermarket chain in the
US, operates stores in Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, Virginia, and West Vir-
ginia under the names of Giant Food Stores, TOPS Markets and Martin's Food
Markets. The initial roll-out of the programme in 2003 included media announce-
ments, radio advertisements and in-store materials that introduced the project and
highlighted the long-term economic and environmental benefits. In addition, Gi-
ant currently has a portion of its website devoted to the ChoiceCatch partnership
(www.giantpa.com/shareddev/sharedcontent/Ecosound). No specific items are la-
belled as part of this marketing initiative, but Giant-Carlisle does share general
information with its customers about the partnership itself and provides more spe-
cific information on a few species.
The Aquarium can also play a supporting role for corporate partners interested
in raising awareness about the issues and the partnership with customers as well
as front-line and executive staff. This includes training for point-of-sale staff, con-
tributions for the corporate website and other collateral materials, and strategic
directions for new promotions highlighting the best environmental options. The
potential for educating millions of customers about sustainable seafood through
over-the-counter interactions is high, and training for point-of-sale staff and the
distribution of collateral materials are significant opportunities for the Aquarium
to raise awareness and facilitate even stronger corporate commitments.
16.7
New directions
In 2000, few other conservation organisations were working directly with large
seafood buyers to address issues of seafood sustainability - most groups were
focused on educating consumers and certifying specific products for sustain-
ability. Today, efforts by conservation organisations to work directly with major
seafood buyers are growing, in part due to an increased interest by companies to
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