It is critical that this industry:
·Increases demand domestically and overseas, but increases supply in ine with demand.
·Identifies what drives customer demand.
·Iidentifies how to consistently meet these key drivers.
·Identifies the appropriate anatomy of its brands in Australia and overseas.
·Identifies enterprise and sectoral brand standards and certification processes which customers value at the “bottom of the pyramid” which could articulate with a draft National Aquaculture Brand developed at the “top of the pyramid”.

This project is critical as a starting point for the SA Marine Finfish industry. This industry needs to establish brands which command a premium price. Therefore, it needs to know what niche markets value in terms of supply, safety and quality, and establish a brand "anatomy" which reflects those requirements. It must also determine the best way to promote the "anatomy" and provide the required product and supporting information to customers.

The National Aquaculture Council project has so far undertaken generic attitude surveys covering customer preferences for aquaculture product to be eaten at home (via supermarkets) or in restaurants.

Initial results show that Hiramsa Kingfish and Suzuki Mulloway are hardly known in the Melbourne fine dining market. Some responses to the initial National Aquaculture Council research need to be followed up in more detail for our products, as respondents appear to be either unaware of our products, or have misconceptions about them.

For example:
One potential driver of demand is “appealing taste”. The responses to the NAC project scored Barramundi much more highly than “Kingfish”. It is not clear why this is so, and whether respondents differentiated wild kingfish from our branded product.
“Familiarity and availability” also appears to be key drivers. Again “kingfish" scores far below all other aquaculture finfish products.
“Healthy and nutritious” also appear to be drivers, but potential customers appear to have little understanding of the benefits of our branded product.
“Low fat content” appears to be driver, but presumably customers are referring only to saturated fats. (However, Omega 3 and 6 is part of the fat content).
Indicators of “freshness” and “quality” need to be objectively defined.
“Affordability” is another driver, which will be directly impacted by market positioning.
There also appears to be a relationship between the demand for seafood product as a special dining experience (value added) as opposed to its comparative availability as a supermarket commodity. This needs to be clarified as it may affect the brand "anatomy" relating to different market segments.

Therefore, Hiramsa Kingfish ™ and Suzuki Mulloway™ products need to build a brand “anatomy” which is appropriate to the Melbourne domestic market and can justify the brand claims, in terms of:
Features (e.g. omega content etc); Functional Benefits (taste, texture etc); Emotional Benefits (luxurious, special treat, clean and green, guilt free); Personality (social eating, entertainment, fashion) , Values (healthy living, safe etc), and Soul (essence of the brand – eg. Australian quality, supporting human health and environment health).
However, different aquaculture products will have different “anatomies” which need to be separately identified for different products and different markets.
A National Aquaculture Brand may have a generic “anatomy”.

It is appropriate to first undertake this research in the domestic market and establish the domestic “anatomy” and supporting supply structure, promotional strategy and materials. This will form the basis of “export readiness”, prior to researching and developing overseas markets, which may require an “anatomy” appropriate to each market.

However, there is an urgency to complete this domestic project and use the research findings as the basis for further export research. (FRDC will note that Australia’s seafood export earnings were down 11% in 2002/2003 but aquaculture’s value rose by 1.5% despite lower export returns for species such as tuna and salmon). Austrade Los Angeles wishes to urgently promote Australian seafood, and we therefore have to be prepared.