Sealord has launched a new long-term brand platform, ‘We Love Fish,’ created with Motion Sickness, encouraging New Zealanders to embrace eating fish without embarrassment. The platform will roll out nationwide across TV, digital, social, and out-of-home.
The platform is built around what it calls “fishame,” described as the guilt some fish lovers feel about eating fish in public, cooking it at home, or choosing frozen fish.
The launch film, ‘The Manifishto,’ was created in partnership with The Sweetshop and directed by Damien Shatford. It follows a Skipper as he encounters people experiencing “fishame,” including a commuter hiding an open tin of tuna on a bus, an office worker concealing herself after reheating fish in a microwave, and a child scrutinizing a hoki fillet at the dinner table. The film ends with the Skipper encouraging people to “hold that fish high and proud.”
“We know many New Zealanders want to eat more fish, but there are small social and practical barriers that get in the way,” said Melissa Butler, General Manager, Marketing at Sealord.
“‘We Love Fish’ celebrates those realities with humour and confidence, while reinforcing Sealord’s role as the brand to make it easier for people to truly love fish.”
“New Zealand is basically one long coastline,” said Will Macdonald, Creative Director at Motion Sickness.
“Which means loving fish isn’t really optional. We are biologically engineered to love the stuff. So when the message needed a messenger, there was only ever one candidate: Sealord. This is the first step to normalising public fish-scoffing, and I don’t think it will be the last.”
The rollout includes a suite of assets across television, digital, social media, and out-of-home, with media handled by PHD Aotearoa.
Credits
Client: Sealord
General Manager Marketing: Melissa Butler
Senior Brand Manager: Michelle Kitchen
Brand Manager: Brooke Adrian
Agency: Motion Sickness
Executive Creative Director: Sam Stuchbury
Creative Director: Will Macdonald
Creative (Freelance): Lee Hempstock
Senior Designer: Patrick Hickley
Artworker: Moana Peterson
Senior Strategist: Logan Barnes
Client Services Director: Emma Richardson
Senior Account Manager: Kate Wilkinson
Head of Production: Joseph McAlpine
Production Company: The Sweetshop
Director: Damien Shatford
Managing Director & Executive Producer: Ben Dailey
Executive Producer: Jimena Murray
Casting: Adrian Dentice
Director of Photography: James L Brown
Production Designer: Guy Treadgold
Costume Designer: Olivia Dobson
Editor: Simon Price
Colourist: Ferg Rotherham
Online: Fathom VFX
Audio Post Production
Studio: Liquid Studios NZ
Sound Designer & Mixer: Craig Matuschka
Music Composer: Peter van der Fluit
Music & Sound Producer: Tamara O’Neill
Media
Creative Integration Lead: Philippa Allnut
Business Director: Matt Didovich
Digital Director: Lily Lavas
Digital Planner: James Thomson
Senior Account Manager: Emma Gribble
PR
DIG PR
