A “Choose Canadian Seafood” campaign is coming to 300 Sobeys and Safeway banners, catering to millennials’ growing demand for locally produced seafood.

The Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance (CAIA) and The Fisheries Council of Canada (FCC) announced an expansion of 2022’s “Choose Canadian Seafood” campaign, emphasizing how easy it is to incorporate nutritious seafood into daily meals, while prioritizing convenience, health and sustainability. Metro locations across Ontario will also offer customers complimentary recipe booklets that list a range of local seafood recipes.

The associated ChooseSeafood.ca website has undergone a significant transformation and now includes a comprehensive guide, highlighting the nutritional benefits and industry sustainability of Canadian seafood.

“A recent study from Dalhousie University showed an overwhelming 86.7% of Canadians regularly make fish and seafood staples in their diets, mainly driven by nutritional considerations,” says FCC president Paul Lansbergen. “With 64% citing health as their primary motivator, the results underscore the relevance of the ‘Choose Canadian Seafood’ initiative.'”

Sobeys began actively promoting “Choose Canadian Seafood” in October 2022, by displaying stickers with this slogan printed on them, on select Canadian seafood packaging, and by utilizing ice picks also branded with this slogan at fish counters. Metro Ontario also joined the effort by sharing branded recipe booklets at seafood counters to educate consumers about eating local.

In the first year of the “Choose Canadian” initiative in 2022, in collaboration with CAIA/FCC, supporting agency, Nourish Food Marketing tells strategy it saw “promising results among [its] target audience, primarily millennials, who increased their consumption of seafood.”

According to Lansbergen, millennials place a premium on health and environmental sustainability in their consumption choices.

Nourish Food Marketing began working with both the CAIA and FCC in 2019 with the shared goal of elevating the profile of Canadian fish and seafood, building public trust and expanding the domestic consumer base. This partnership was informed by comprehensive market and consumer research conducted by Nourish to help develop a national positioning strategy that would enhance Canadians’ perception and confidence in the fish and seafood sector, while increasing consumption and demand for local seafood products.

Grilling, along with snacking, were identified as key areas for growth for seafood consumption, and Nourish continues to choose campaign periods that align with peak grocery shopping times, such as winter holidays, and periods when consumers are open to adopting new habits, such as the back-to-school season.

The project is also supported by The Canadian Fish and Seafood Opportunities Fund (CFSOF), a national marketing program first launched in December 2018 that supports industry organizations in efforts to address key market-access issues.