Sealord appoints DDB Aotearoa as creative agency

DDB Aotearoa has this month been awarded the business of one of the largest fishing companies in Australasia, with Sealord appointing the agency to lead the full remit of its marketing and communications requirements.

Following a formal review and discussions with several agencies, the move will see DDB working across the retail, foodservice and export sides of Sealord’s business. Additionally, with Sealord leading an industry wide initiative, DDB’s first campaign launching later this year will be for the fishing industry, aimed at attracting more Kiwi workers into the industry.

This comes after a challenging year of border closures, resulting in a shortage of workers in the fishing industry – a problem that highlighted the need for more Kiwi crew members onboard vessels.

Sealord is half Iwi-owned through Moana New Zealand and has a strong focus on kaitiakitanga and sustainability. The business was seeking a partner that could help clearly communicate their values and define Sealord’s role in Kiwi’s lives.

Stuart Yorston, group GM (marketing and sustainability) of Sealord says DDB Aotearoa’s demonstrated track record of effective creativity underpinned by world-class strategic acumen encouraged the business to entrust DDB to help the business achieve its goals and steer the brand forward: “Despite some challenges over the past 12 months, Sealord also experienced record retail market growth as Kiwi whanau continued to enjoy our products over lockdown periods. Equally over this time we reviewed our agency requirements and believe that the time was right to consider a new approach. As in all businesses, looking ahead there are still some hurdles to overcome, and I am confident we will see some great work to address these challenges. We’re proud to have DDB Aotearoa in our corner.

“Not only were we impressed by their strong credentials and strategic and creative firepower, we also felt a connection and chemistry with the team, who understood our business, what we were about, and what we wanted to achieve. We believe in the power of partnership and our decision to move to DDB was in large influenced by the senior leadership at DDB as well as the team appointed to our business. Simply put, we felt at home.”

Nikki McKelvie, managing partner of DDB Group Aotearoa, says the team are looking forward to working across Sealord’s broad portfolio, driving its retail and wholesale offerings as well as the corporate business through creative marketing, brand and social campaigns: “Sealord is a proud New Zealand company and the most well-known seafood brand in New Zealand so it’s great to be welcoming such an established and valued brand into the DDB Group.”