There have been recent comments about the branding of fresh farmed salmon in order to make it stand out as a premium product and therefore attract customers.
While this has been presented as a new approach, at least in the USA, it has been pointed out that branding fresh farmed salmon is nothing new.
According to Martin Jaffa of Callander McDowell, Marine Harvest launched packs of farmed salmon under the ‘Lochinvar’ brand in the early 1990s. These packs were sold in Waitrose and Safeway supermarkets in the UK, but the venture was not a success and eventually failed.
At the time, the location of the packing plant was highlighted as the problem, although why that should have made a difference is unclear. The problem, according to Martin Jaffa, was made clear by the then managing director’s comment: "They don’t brand fillet steak do they?"
By this he meant that most consumers would see one fillet steak as being just like any other, and he added that most consumers would be unable to differentiate one salmon fillet from another.
Of course there have been attempts by other companies to brand farmed salmon, and Loch Duart Salmon from Scotland is marketed as ‘a product which is consistently judged superior in taste, quality, colour and overall perception’. Whether it deserves this description is open to question.
Premium product
What is not open to question is that in order to justify such a description, packs of branded fresh farmed salmon, as well as the salmon itself, must give the appearance of a premium product.
An active brand in the USA, Verlasso, is apparently now being targeted nationally. However, a Verlasso branded pack of salmon photographed in a Costco outlet in Lynwood north of Seattle gives completely the opposite message, as described by Martin Jaffa.
"It is just a lump of flesh rather than being presented in nice trimmed portions. Perhaps the point was not to offer portions, but this is a branded salmon, not just a lump of salmon. Secondly, the flesh is gaping and there appears to be a blood spot. Finally, the marbling is unattractive.
"The fish is displayed in a basic expanded polystyrene tray with a film top. It is not a premium presentation for a branded product, but instead a cheap way of displaying lumps of protein, whether meat or fish. It does not exude a message of quality."
Many years ago, the upmarket British multiple retailer, Marks and Spencer, used to compile detailed specifications for each seafood product that appeared on its shelves. These documents described exactly from where the product should be sourced and how it should be prepared, plus how it should be packed including its position in the pack to show it at its best.
The pack and the product inside, where visible, must look attractive to make the customer pick it up off the shelf. This forms the first phase of any purchase.
The customer is king, or queen, and if he or she does not think that the product is worth him or her parting with hard earned cash, then the fish or shellfish inside the pack might just as well not have been harvested.
