Iconic seafood brand John West has recently launched its latest work developed with Cummins&Partners, The ‘Unlimited Edition’ Project. John West Australia has overhauled its supply chain and now only sources tuna certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), the world’s best standard in sustainability.
This accreditation makes John West Australia not only the best, but also the world’s most sustainable tuna brand. However, it also posed somewhat of a communications challenge as ‘sustainable’ is a difficult concept for many shoppers to understand, or care about.
John West Australia saw the need to re-frame its sustainable credentials in a way that consumers would readily understand. Insights from Cummins&Partners unlocked that people understood the concept of ‘sustainable’ equaling having something ‘forever’, and from this insight the ‘Unlimited Edition’ work was born.
To dramatise the possibility of a world without fish thanks to unsustainable fishing methods, John West launched a fake tuna brand called ‘Finnish Tuna’ in partnership with MSC and WWF.
They distributed cans of Finnish Tuna to unsuspecting commuters – only for them to find that, when they opened the cans, there was nothing in them but water and a message, “Imagine a world without fish”. This appealed to consumers to think about their choices at supermarket shelves and the impact they can have on the environment.
This was followed by the introduction of the John West ‘Unlimited Edition Can’ – turning typical marketing language on its head to celebrate John West tuna now being MSC certified. Further to this, John West is committed to reaching one million dollars for WWF ocean conservation projects, helping to ensure we have ‘healthy oceans forever’.
This will be supported with broadcast media, POS and digital content. The entire campaign has also had a strong earned media component via social media and PR, developed and executed by Mango Communications in conjunction with Cummins&Partners.
Jim Ingram, co-ECD at Cummins&Partners said, “We are very proud of this work. Making people care about sustainability, and transferring that to sales of John West is a complicated communications objective.
“Our campaign has a number of moving parts, but all of it revolves around making it easy for consumers to understand that John West’s sustainable credentials are what makes it the best tuna.”
Stephanie Dore-Smith, senior brand manager John West at Simplot said, “From the pitch to production the Cummins&Partners team has been great to work with. Our idea has captured a lot of people’s imagination and we couldn’t be more happy with the work.”
CREDITS
Creative Agency Cummins&Partners
Creative Jim Ingram – Executive Creative Director Ben Couzens – Executive Creative Director Chris Ellis – Senior Copywriter Aaron Lipson – Senior Art Director Damian Royce – Creative Director
Account Management Rod Mooseek – Group Account Director Brioni Pickhaver – Senior Account Director Alisa Mezhov – Senior Account Manager
Strategy Adam Ferrier – Global Chief Strategy officer James Bennett – Planner
PR Mango Communications Rebecca Ahern – Managing Director Amanda Sheat – Account Director Lauren Hunt – Account Manager Emma Paolucci – Account Coordinator
Production Company: Plaza Films Director: Paul Middleditch Executive Producer: Peter Masterton
