Marine Stewardship Council
Agency briefing pack
The MSC‟s Agency Briefing Pack is
designed to provide creative agencies, as
well as in-house creative/design
departments with important information on
what makes the MSC program effective and
unique to help implement and roll out
successful consumer campaigns.
Introduction
1. The MSC
2. Guiding principles for MSC
campaigns
3. Consumer strategy
4. Campaign guidelines
5. Sign-off process
6. Campaign inspiration
Contents
Marine Stewardship Council
Who we are
The MSC is an independent non-profit
organisation which sets a standard for
sustainable fishing.
Our mission is to use our ecolabel and
fishery certification program to contribute to
the health of the world’s oceans by:
• recognising and rewarding sustainable
fishing practices
• influencing the choices people make
when buying seafood, and
• working with our partners to transform
the seafood market to a sustainable
basis.
The MSC
Like Intel® the MSC functions as an
ingredient brand – in the case of the
MSC, providing reassurance to
consumers about a very specific but
very important element of seafood ie.
independent, third party assurance that
the seafood has been sourced from a
certified sustainable fishery.
As an ingredient brand, the value of
that promise is transferred to the host
brand ie. when consumers see the
ecolabel on-pack they trust the host
brand has the highest commitment to
seafood sustainability.
The value added to seafood products and brands
The MSC value chain
The independently certified fisheries
adhere to national and international
fishery laws.
Fisheries certified to the MSC standard
help secure abundant fish stocks and
maintain the structure, function,
diversity, and productivity of
associated ecosystems.
Processors that have achieved MSC
Chain of Custody ensure identification,
control and separation of MSC certified
product.
Distributors with Chain of Custody
maintain the integrity of MSC certified
products they supply to retailers,
schools, restaurants and fishmongers.
Seafood buyers’ preference for MSC
certified products recognises and
rewards sustainable fishing practices
around the world.
In over 84 countries people are
buying MSC labelled seafood with the
confidence that it has been sourced
from a fishery that is safeguarding
marine ecosystems for future
generations.
Marine Stewardship Council
Guiding principles for MSC campaigns
The guiding principles of the MSC‟s communications
Consistent Compelling
Positive
…messages that
recognise and reward our
partners’ commitment
…messages of how we
work with partners to
make a real difference
…with our partners’
expectations and across
the MSC globally
BETTER TOGETHER
The essence of the MSC and its ability to deliver its mission is dependent
on successfully engaging with a diverse group of partners.
All of the MSC’s marketing and communications has, at its heart, the goal
of advancing stakeholder engagement by communicating and reinforcing
compelling messages about who we are, what we do, and how we work
with partners to make a real difference.
Our stakeholder focused philosophy:
The MSC’s values ensure the MSC meets the needs and expectations
of all our partners and embody everything the MSC stands for and does.
All communications materials should aim to bring the MSC values to life so
that they build on the MSC’s reputation and meet our partners’ expectations
of an organisation that is a credible, collaborative, effective, positive choice
for change.
The MSC values:
Transformational Credible Passionate
Collaborative Accessible Inspiring
Positive Independent Global
Meeting our partners‟ expectations
Marine Stewardship Council
Consumer strategy
Consumer strategy
It‟s good to change opinion – it‟s better to change behaviour
87% 12%
…of the population
reportedly care
about the future of
the environment
…regularly buy
products that are
better for the
environment
Source: Roper Green Guage StudyBase: 2,000 aged 18+, US, 2007
‘I’m concerned about it but what can
I do about it?’
‘How do they know it’s sustainable,
can I trust it?’
‘Price/Availability’
‘It should be glaringly obvious. I want
to buy it but it needs to be easily
accessible for me’
‘I want to do the right thing but it has
to be simple’
‘I want someone else to do it for me’
Shopper‟s barriers to action – reasons often cited
3 steps to changing shopper behaviour
ENGAGEMENT REASSURANCE MOTIVATION
Consumers
respond to
messages of
hope
They need
evidence that
this is something
they can trust
It’s a simple way
for every
shopper to make
a difference
Promise of a
better future,
abundance
Independent,
Global,
Collaborative
A positive choice
for change
The MSC’s hope and trust strategy
Marine Stewardship Council
Campaign guidelines
9 golden rules that enhance the
credibility of the MSC, enhance
your CSR credentials, and
increase sales of your MSC
labelled products
Campaign guidelines
1. Meet the spirit and the letter of all regulations covering
advertising and environmental claims
The MSC runs a certification and ecolabelling program, working with partners to
transform the world’s seafood markets to a sustainable basis.
The reputation of our partners, the credibility of the standard, and consumer trust
in the MSC ecolabel must be maintained and enhanced by following a high level
of ethical behaviour in marketing and communications.
To that end, all types of advertising, marketing and communications shall:
• be accurate, verifiable, relevant and not misleading
• not cause offence
• only make claims that can be backed up by existing documentary evidence that
shall be available and provided upon request to relevant parties
• ensure material information is not hidden or supplied in an unclear, unintelligible,
ambiguous or untimely way.
Campaign guidelines
2. Only include MSC labelled products in campaigns
• While you may have a range of products that are from MSC certified
fisheries, if the products do not carry the MSC ecolabel they can’t be
included in a campaign
• The MSC ecolabel provides assurance to the public that a product
comes from a certified sustainable fishery, as such, we cannot
communicate about non-MSC labelled products
• In addition, the use of the ecolabel is in line with our efforts to recognise
and reward sustainable fisheries and meets shoppers’ requirements for a
simple solution to identifying certified sustainable seafood.
Campaign guidelines
3. Inspire shoppers by focusing on the positive
Communicate confidence in ‘a better future’ for fishing and the oceans
• Fisheries around the world are demonstrating their sustainable fishing
practices
• You and many other seafood businesses and brands are committed
to sustainable seafood
• They (the shopper) can make a difference
• Use pictures/photography of abundance
Messages designed to cause panic eg. ‘crisis in the oceans’, ‘fish
disappearing’ are not effective in changing shopping behaviour, they
only increase shoppers’ feeling that there is nothing they can do.
Avoid using pictures with only a few fish left in the sea.
Campaign guidelines
4. Champion the fishers
• The MSC ecolabel is designed to recognise and reward fisheries that have
demonstrated their sustainable fishing practices
• Fishers are the heroes – they have met a very high, science based standard
to demonstrate they are fishing sustainably
• Some have made important changes to the way they fish, or are carrying out
important new research
• All of them are putting in great effort to monitor and track fish stocks and the
impact of their fishing activity on the environment to ensure the fishery remains
sustainable
As a stakeholder-driven organisation, the MSC program should be characterised as
incentivising change in the oceans, not as the driver of change.
As an independent standard setter, the MSC program doesn’t communicate about
or prejudge in any way fisheries that are not in its program.
Campaign guidelines
5. Put emphasis on the word
„sustainable‟: it resonates with
consumers‟ values
• Clarify that the MSC ecolabel stands for
sustainably sourced seafood
• Where you have the opportunity,
explain why they can trust the seafood
really is sustainable
• Always spell out that products are ‘MSC
certified sustainable seafood’ as
opposed to only ‘MSC certified seafood’
Campaign guidelines
6. Highlight the „traceability‟
of MSC labelled products
• MSC’s traceability standard provides
the assurance that seafood comes from
a certified sustainable fishery
eg. ‘the MSC ecolabel provides consumer
reassurance that products are fully
traceable to a sustainable source’
Do not use the term ‘guarantee’ when
describing traceability. While the MSC
does have the ability to take action if
traceability is broken or transgressed,
‘guarantee’ sets expectations that a
legal provision is in place.
Campaign guidelines
7. Always refer to the MSC
mark as an “ecolabel”
• The MSC ecolabel is used to provide
assurance that seafood products are
using certified sustainable seafood –
it is not a logo
• In messaging use ‘Look for the MSC
ecolabel’ – as opposed to ‘Look for
the MSC logo’
Campaign guidelines
8. Talk about „MSC labelled
seafood‟ not „MSC seafood‟
• It would be misleading to talk about
‘MSC seafood’ or ‘MSC products’ as
the MSC isn’t a brand and doesn’t
own or sell any products
• Describe products carrying the MSC
ecolabel as ‘MSC labelled products’
Campaign guidelines
9. Encourage shoppers to take
action and look for the MSC
ecolabel
• Add a call for action on all materials to
encourage shoppers to ‘look for the
MSC ecolabel on-pack’
• Support this call for action by using
POS to help shoppers navigate to and
find where the products are in store
eg. ‘look out for the MSC ecolabel’, ‘ask us
more about the MSC’, ‘ask us which
products are MSC labelled’ and using
freezer stickers, shelf barkers, and price
tags to highlight products
Campaign guidelines
Marine Stewardship Council
Sign-off process
• In line with the Ecolabel License Agreement, MSCI must sign off all use
of its ecolabel
• All campaign artwork must be approved by MSCI before sending your
campaign to print
Please send all final artwork to [email protected]. MSCI aims to respond
to all emails within three working days.
• For more information, please contact your nearest MSC office.
We look forward to working with you on many more campaigns…
Sign-off process
Marine Stewardship Council
Campaign inspiration
We’ve created a marketing toolkit to
enable you to quickly create campaigns
that promote your commitment to sourcing
sustainable seafood.
As well as containing a range of free-to-
use images which you can download and
tailor with messaging to match your own
brand values and tone of voice, the toolkit
provides many examples of how retailers
and brands have already benefited from
carrying out joint campaigns as well as a
host of inspirational ideas from shopper
marketing agency Saatchi & Saatchi X,
which you are free to adapt to fit your own
retail template and promote your MSC
labelled range:
Campaign inspiration
http://marketing.msc.org/
www.msc.org
For more information please contact:
Marine Stewardship Council
Marine House
1 Snow Hill
London
EC1A 2DH
Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7246 8900
Fax + 44 (0) 20 7246 8901
Thank you