TikTok is helping challenger premium seafood brand Scout net new fans.

With millions of the platform’s users engaging with “#tinnedfish,” Scout is now devoting the bulk of its social presence to the platform as it supports its expansion into Canadian Whole Foods stores.

The rollout into Whole Foods brings Scout’s total retail footprint to more than 2,000 across North America, with plans to be in between 3,000 to 4,000 by the end of the year.

“TikTok has opened up the consumer base, where before tinned canned fish had more stigma and wasn’t really seen as having the culinary halo it has now,” says Adam Bent, CEO and co-founder of Scout, a company that has doubled in size since 2020.

For Scout, TikTok now holds 85% of its social media focus, a contrast from a few months ago when the brand focused primarily on Instagram and Facebook.

However, point of purchase remains more crucial than ever, as ecomm surges have normalized, from 40% of its lockdown business to around 15% in a post-COVID environment.

“We’re an in-store brand, [so] when we think about our way to reach customers and drive trial, everything we are thinking actually starts with getting that purchase in-store,” Bent says. The digital ecosystem reinforces people finding things on aisle, and the brand stands out largely because of its pastel packaging.

With its packaging, Bent believes like any emerging brand, it has to constantly refresh its brand identity and experience, probably every two years to attract Gen Z’s insatiable appetite for newness.

With retailers stateside, it is rolling out shippers and danglers for a brand new innovation it is launching in March. It’s also exploring scanning receipt redemptions via Venmo in the U.S., and it is thinking about connecting online and offline in different ways across North America.

Bent says it is definitely open to doing in-store collaborations too. Scout is currently working with Goodles, a better-for-you boxed macaroni, for an end-cap promo touting an affordable, yet decadent macaroni and cheese meal as it continues to reach out to Gen Z and younger millennials.

While Scout resonates with European-Canadian boomers familiar with premium seafood in a can, it is now really honing in on younger consumers as its key target.

Legacy brands like Clover Leaf are disrupting shelf stable seafood with rice bowls, and Bent says regardless of a brand’s size, innovation is driving new consumers to the category, which is good for everyone.

Bent tells strategy Scout is currently expanding its Canadian presence with larger regionals and nationals, launching into 14 Loblaw division Fortinos, some IGA banners in the West, and a few Sobeys and Farm Boy locations to test price points before rolling out more broadly.

Toronto agency Brandsicle is its partner responsible for the design of its packaging, POS and trademark materials.