The concept of the category brand ‘Far Eastern Pollock’ was presented at the Global Fishery Forum & Seafood Expo Russia. Despite its combination of affordable price, good taste, health benefits and large reserves, this fish is still not appreciated in Russia as much as in the rest of the world. Seeking to reverse this trend and supply the wild-caught and highly digestible protein to consumers, the Pollock Catchers Association has launched a large-scale marketing campaign to promote its umbrella brand within the pollock product category.
Alexey Buglak, President of the Pollock Catchers Association, spoke about the campaign’s goal and the expectation of doubling pollock consumption on the Russian market within three years. The project is aimed at expanding domestic demand and, as a result, sales. The potential target audience is the entire population of Russia, making the campaign truly socially significant.
Vasily Sokolov, Deputy Head of the Federal Agency for Fisheries, spoke about the different periods in the history of pollock production in Russia. To have consumers with different purchasing capacity try pollock products, we need to focus both on maintaining the freshness and quality of the fish and marketing efforts, including merchandising, packaging and convenient pre-packing, he said. To revive forgotten consumer habits and create new ones, we must take heed of current promotional trends that will let people see pollock on store shelves and help increase consumption of this fish in Russia.
Pavel Mezhericher, General Director of IKRA Group and coordinator of the Far Eastern Pollock programme, supported his colleagues’ statements and spoke about the created brand concept and the plan for promoting it on the Russian market, from the idea and visual concept to actual consumer management tools.
Vasily Emelianenko, ambassador of the Far Eastern Pollock brand, chef and millionaire blogger, joined the roundtable to discuss the nuances of cooking wild-caught fish, speak about its benefits and share his personal experience. He also talked about the двминтай.рф website, where customers can find information about the fish’s benefits and the company’s product range, as well as enjoy 29 different recipes for delicious and healthy pollock dishes.
Other roundtable speakers included representatives of fishing companies: Russian Fishery, NOREBO and Okeanrybflot. They spoke about their own pollock products they already supply and plan to bring to the market, among them fish blocks, fillets, minced fish, semi-finished products, canned foods, etc.
A Q&A session for the audience to learn more about the properties and safety of pollock products concluded the roundtable event.