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Issue link: https://seafoodbusiness.epubxp.com/i/79767
Special Feature QR codes link to recipes or profiles of fishermen who caught the product. classmates' speeches, they had forgotten almost every- thing they heard. But they remembered the stories. While only 5 percent of students remem- bered any individual statis- tic, 63 percent were able to retell stories they heard dur- ing presentations. Te sticking power of sto- ries is good news for the sea- food department, because it contains more stories than anyplace else in the gro- cery store. Sophisticated and interactive point-of-sale (POS) materials are helping retailers share those stories to educate their customers about seafood. Copper River salmon is the big story at AJ's Fine Foods, an upscale grocery chain of 13 stores in Ari- zona. As the May opener approaches, the excitement starts before the first fish is even out of the water. "We actually call it our Point-of-sale materials Interactive approach helps bring seafood home to retail consumers BY MELISSA WOOD W hen you need to get a message across, sto- ries have awesome power. Chip Heath, co-author of the book "Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Succeed and Others Die," asked students in a class he taught at Stanford University to give one-min- ute speeches using different sets of statistics about crime patterns. Afterward, when he asked students to recall their 38 SeaFood Business September 2012 countdown to Copper River salmon season, which in our opinion is the most famous king salmon season there is," says Pat Lee, director of meat, seafood and sushi for AJ's and other stores under the Bashas' umbrella, in- cluding 53 Bashas' and 50 Food City stores. "As it's caught and flown in to Seat- tle we'll send pictures of that and educational material to our members." Troughout the season, AJ's customers receive up- dates in the store and online like daily weather reports from the six rivers that supply sockeye. Tey understand issues like escapement and know that a certain number of salmon need to return to their spawning grounds before non-subsistence fish- ermen are allowed to start catching them. "Our customers are a little bit different. Tey do care about quality and they like to be educated when it comes to [their seafood's] origins," says Lee. To do that Lee works with the Alaska Seafood Market- ing Institute, which offers an abundance of POS materi- als. At AJ's, signage begins at the front of the store with window displays advertis- ing the catch of the week. In the seafood department, Lee says they've had success using 2-by-3-foot stanchion signs to highlight four or five species at a time. "It's really important for me to talk about Alaska, and we're constantly challenged to get that message out, but we're doing a better job of it every year," says Lee. Larry Andrews, marketing director retail for ASMI, has noticed retailers are setting up Alaska seafood sections within their display cases. ASMI provides case- divider signs that delineate these sections from seafood sourced elsewhere. Recipes and preparation tips — which Andrews says are also in demand — are reaching customers in a va- riety of low- and high-tech means. Customers can pick up recipe cards in stores or find them online. Or they can scan QR codes, located on packs, signs or static clings on freezer doors that take them directly to a video showing how to cook the product. A smartphone app for the organization's Cook It Frozen program al- lows customers to look up recipes and videos and store them as favorites. It helps to get the message across that seafood doesn't have to be a complicated dish to prepare. Moham- med Jeddy, seafood buyer for the 61-store Texas-based Visit us online at www.seafoodbusiness.com Photo courtesy of Louisiana Seafood Promotion & Marketing Board