Seafood jewelry? Sounds stupid, but the Maryland Department of Agriculture?s Seafood Marketing Advisory Commission is hoping it?s very smart.
In the department?s new campaign, designed by Columbia-based firm Marriner Marketing Communications, full-page print advertisements show Marylanders using fresh seafood as high-fashion accessories.
“We needed to update our advertisements, and we wanted a fresh new one,” said Noreen Eberly, director of seafood marketing and agriculture development at the Maryland Department of Agriculture, said. “This has just a totally different look. Every picture is a page-stopper. It?s off the wall and different.”
Taglines like “Fresh gets noticed” and “Fresh turns heads” accompany the ads, which depict women and men wearing rockfish as neckties, oysters as necklaces and the Maryland blue crab as a bracelet.
It?s the department?s attempt to tout the freshness of Maryland seafood, in order to compete with foreign seafood companies. The three ads will run in Seafood Business, a national monthly trade magazine, four times a year over the next few years.
Eberly expects positive results. “I think the ads will really grab people?s attention and make them think they should give us a call,” she said.
The campaign launched just last week, in conjunction with the International Boston Seafood Show, which took place March 11-13.
“The campaign is integral to our mission of promoting increased consumption of Chesapeake Bay seafood,” said Maryland Agriculture Secretary Roger L. Richardson in a statement. “With less-expensive, lower-quality alternatives available, this campaign reinforces what knowledgeable chefs and consumers already know ? nothing beats fresh Maryland seafood.”
The total estimated value of the Maryland seafood industry is said to be $700 million. There are currently 74 processing plants employing 1,391 people and over 6,000 watermen who work the Chesapeake Bay.
Eberly said the department is hoping to run the print ads in Wild Catch magazine, another trade publication that focuses on the wild fish harvest, in the near future.
Marriner Marketing Communications
» 10221 Wincopin Circle, Columbia
» 410-715-1500
» www.marriner.com
