We were tasked with raising awareness of Sainsbury’s best practice in sustainable sourcing,and identified a key insight around its fishing practice;sourcing fish responsibly and respecting the environment.We discovered that Sainsbury’s are the largest retail of pollack,a more sustainable alternative to the over fished cod,but that pollack was actually quite unpopular with customers.We quizzed the fish specialists on this and discovered that there was little customer awareness on how to cook it or what it tasted like in comparison to the more popular cod;and that it’s slightly embarrassing sounding name was also a barrier to purchase.The solution? A complete fish based re-brand from the down-market ‘pollack’ to the more appealing Francophile ‘Colan’,or Colin as it’s pronounced in English. Playing to a media appetite for ‘British culture’ stories, we played upon the well-known British reserve, claiming customers felt uncomfortable ordering pollack because of the innuendo in the name.Re-branding, re-packaging and re-launching the fish to UK media and consumers led to a 68% increase in sales and 350 pieces of UK media coverage,including The Guardian front page,and an 87:1 return on investment.Four months later, pollack secured a place in the top ten selling fish in the UK thanks in some part to the campaign.

To drive coverage in the run up to the rebrand launch in Mid April a long lead press release was sold into to all monthly women’s and food titles. Resulting in several pieces of coverage in key mid lead titles.For the national launch an image of the limited edition ‘Colin’ packaging was released to all media alongside a news release on the rebrand of pollack. The release also contained statistics on the issue of declining cod stocks, quotes from the Marine Stewardship Council and British Designer Wayne Hemmingway; it was also accompanied with recipe suggestions on how to cook ‘Colin’.

For broadcast media a B-Roll package was released, the footage included fishermen working out at sea discussing the topic of sustainable fishing and the rebrand of pollack, an interview with Wayne Hemmingway on his involvement and the inspiration of the packaging and key quotes from Sainsbury’s spokespeople.

Across Sainsbury’s stores, sales of pollack rose by a staggering 68%. Increase in sales was driven purely by the PR campaign generated by altering consumer behaviours in stores.The campaign secured 350 pieces of media coverage across national and regional media in the UK and beyond – including The Guardian front page, TV, radio and online over a two week period. Several international pieces and coverage in marketing titles was secured also.A delivery of £1.8m of media cover and an 87:1 return on investment.The effects of the campaign were not short lived. Four months later, the government body that promotes the UK fish industry ‘Seafish’, reported that pollack had secured a place in the UK top ten most popular seafoods. This was attributed to the Sainsbury’s campaign and subsequent reports in marketing trade press which raised awareness of the fish and the issues surrounding sustainability.