Category: Public Sector/Corporate Business Communications Eat More Fish – Scottish Government and Seafood Scotland

The 'Eat More Fish' campaign initiated by Scottish Government, in which Seafood Scotland played a leading role, won a Gold and Silver award on 23rd October, at the prestigious Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) awards.

The annual awards ceremony recognises and rewards the very best in media campaigns in Scotland and attracts hundreds of entries each year, making this a significant achievement!

 

John Booth, Scottish Government, Communications Manager and Nicki Holmyard, SFS communications, with the Gold award!

The campaign was set up earlier this year to help the seafood industry during the current difficult recession, and aimed to drive up sales. It encouraged people in Scotland to eat more fish (at least the recommended two portions a week), through messages promoting it as a simple, healthy and environmentally-friendly dish.

It was kicked off with a ministerial launch at the Fishing Show in Glasgow, when Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead addressed seafood businesses and fishing organisations to spell out the Government's plans to help their domestic sales.

The campaign was fronted with a microsite on the Government website www.scotland.gov.uk/eatmorefish , which provided a one-stop source of advice on buying and cooking fish, plus information on the health benefits of fish and the sustainability of the Scottish fishing industry.

In addition, Seafood Scotland was commissioned to run a 'Young Scottish Seafood Chef' competition to encourage use of more Scottish fish on hotel and restaurant menus, and to run a successful stand at the Taste of Edinburgh festival, which attracted well over 20,000 visitors. Here, Seafood Scotland staff promoted fish to the public and handed out recipe and information leaflets. A chef demonstrated how to cook simple fish dishes and was accompanied by fishermen who explained the sustainable methods used by Scotland's fishing fleet. SFS also sponsored demonstrations in the Festival's main cookery tent where top Scottish chefs Nick Nairn and Roy Brett, assisted by fishermen Ian Gatt and Jimmy Buchan from BBC's 'Trawlermen' series, cooked a number of dishes in front of large live audiences.

A successful media plan was developed to support the campaign, which was later developed to generate counter-publicity around the film 'The End of the Line'.