Project Summary

Aquaculture producers in the North Central Region (NCR) have identified aquaculture literacy and consumer education as critical needs to advance industry growth. Lack of education about aquaculture can lead to consumers who are confused and likely discourages consumers from purchasing aquaculture products. In order to inform and attract potential consumers, producers need to understand what marketing messages and attributes of their products motivate consumer purchasing. To understand the most effective marketing strategy, we will engage NCR consumers with various science-based aquaculture promotional messages (text and images). We will collect qualitative and quantitative data from focus groups and a survey to elicit information that interests consumers and leads to an affinity for aquaculture products. We will use the research outcomes to develop a toolkit and teaching curriculum that will be implemented in workshops to teach aquaculture producers about effective messaging and how to apply this information to market their products and improve consumer literacy. Overall, this project will systematically identify consistent, positive, and accurate consumer messaging and empower producers to use these messages to increase consumer demand in the NCR.

Objective(s)

The overall goal of this project is to train the aquaculture industry to use effective, evidence-based consumer messaging that will lead to increased aquaculture literacy in the NCR. In order to achieve this goal, our individual objectives are to:

1. Identify and evaluate aquaculture messaging to determine the text and visuals that most effectively resonate with consumers.
2. Develop and create an NCR industry toolkit and training curriculum to increase use of messaging and approaches that build trust and increase affinity for aquaculture products.
3. Disseminate and deliver training and marketing materials to industry through three regional workshops.

Duration:  2 Years (January 1-2025-December 31, 2026)

Participants

PI:  Lauren Jescovitch, Michigan Sea Grant & Michigan State University Extension

Co-PI:  Amy Schrank, University of Minnesota Sea Grant

Co-PI:  Stuart Carlton, Purdue University

Co-PI:  Amy Shambach, Purdue University

Co-PI:  Amy te Plate-Church, The Center for Food Integrity

Co-PI:  Keely Coppess, The Center for Food Integrity

Extension Liaison:  Amy Shambach, Purdue University

Industry Liaison:  Phil Shambach, TIPPCO Fish, Inc.

Project Outline

Proposal

Award Amount

$280,744

Award Number

2023-3850-40773