Lobster Marketers to Expand Promotion Through Supply Chain

by Laurie Schreiber

ROCKPORT—The Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative is expanding its promotion program while also looking for a new executive director.

Matt Jacobson, who led the collaborative since its inception in 2013, stepped down as executive director on Feb. 25. The collaborative’s board of directors launched a search process and hopes to have a new executive director in place soon, board member Frank Gotwals said during the collaborative’s annual update, March 2, at the Maine Fishermen’s Forum.

In the meantime, the collaborative’s market firm, Weber Shadwick, has launched new initiatives for 2019.

The collaborative’s interim executive director and marketing director, Marianne LaCroix, said the collaborative’s push over the past couple of years has been to promote “new shell” lobster by connecting with chefs and media.

“When we started this process, we said, ‘Where’s the best place for us to concentrate our marketing efforts to be as effective as possible?’” she said. “We knew we needed to influence demand.”

Most people know Maine lobster, she said. So the question was how to position the product to make it exciting and relevant. The resulting message was, “Make it Maine, make it new shell.”

Chefs became a target audience in part because “they’re rock stars,” said LaCroix, “They have TV shows. They help set trends.” The initiative also included connecting with traditional and social media, she said.

In 2018, one focus that proved effective was the development of video content, she said. That’s driven 400 million views. Maine lobster was featured in cover stories in Food & Wine magazine and Martha Stewart Living magazine and earned 68 million social media impressions.

Over the past five years, Maine lobster had 6,665 media placements and 4.5 billion media impressions. Initiatives drove 1.9 million visits to the collaborative’ new website.

The 2019 plan will include the creation of “hyper-targeted” educational content, earned media campaigns that drive awareness and demand throughout the supply chain, the celebration of the 5th annual National Lobster Day and continued digital content, proactive and reactive earned efforts and issues management, according to a press release from the collaborative.

Weber Shandwick’s Allyson Hoar said that includes evolving the strategy to reach dealers and buyers along with chefs and consumers. The focus will shift from educating chefs and consumers to educating the entire supply chain, from live lobsters to value-added lobster, and from engaging with “tastemakers” through one-on-one meetings and events to digitally targeting decision-makers.

“We want to make sure we’re telling the Maine lobster story,” Hoar said. “We’ll demonstrate the premium value of new shell across the supply chain and continue to position harvesters as heroes.”

That will be achieved by online and offline tactics that position new shell as a must-have seasonal delicacy and by amplifying the industry’s stories throughout the supply chain, she said. Other tactics include working with celebrity partners and with food influencers to create testimonials, along with pursuing a trademark for new shell.

“We want to get to know the supply chain audiences better,” said Weber Shandwick’s Sara Brody. Questions include: What are their barriers to buying new shell lobster and how can supply chain audiences be reached?

“We’re in the midst of concluding that research,” she said. Last year, the collaborative brought chefs and media representatives to Maine to learn about the industry. This year, it will also bring some of the bigger distributors. And it will develop materials aimed at filling education gaps about what the product, she said.

The collaborative was founded in 2013 and is funded by Maine Lobster harvesters, dealers and processors.