The Alabama Gulf Seafood campaign is great example of a successful campaign. The reason behind the campaign was the BP oil spill. The BP oil spill was the largest in the history of the United States, spilling more than two hundred million gallons of oil into Gulf Coast waters in a span of 87 days. This had a large impact on the marine wildlife and the entire coastline of the Gulf of Mexico. A negative image was inadvertently portrayed on the seafood of the Gulf Coast, including Alabama.
The state of Alabama turned to Big Communications, an ad agency in Birmingham, to change the public’s view of Alabama’s seafood. This is a tough task to ask of any agency. The BP oil spill was an international crisis that effected a relatively small coastline of the United States. Along with limited funding, changing the perception of Alabama seafood had no easy solution.
Nikki Lim, the Director of Business for Big Communications, spoke to my Account Management class about this campaign and what went into it. They had to start from scratch and differentiate themselves from other states who had already launched their campaigns.
Big Communications knew that the budget for this campaign was limited, so the best approach to take was to find successful local businesses that were also affected by the spill and create a common goal and build trust. The agency partnered with local fisherman, seafood chefs, restaurants, and business all along the coast of Alabama.
Once they partnered with these local businesses and people, Big Communication was able to put together multiple television and radio spots. Focusing on showing fresh, well prepared seafood rather than showing statistics about the spill was their approach. The advertising spots used the phrase, “Genuine goodness.”
After the advertising spots were created, they began to plan events with local businesses. For example, Alabama Gulf Seafood had a large tent serving food and selling merchandise at the Hangout Music Festival in Gulf Shores, one of the largest music festivals in the region. This allowed locals and tourists at the event to try a large selection of locally caught seafood while they were at the music festival.
The Alabama Gulf Coast Seafood campaign has shown to be very successful, as the television and radio spots are still being used today. Seafood restaurants and fisherman have been able to stay in business and even expand as well. This advertising campaign shows how an agency can work with a limited budget and still be able to affect public opinion even with negative external factors.
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