Building trust in “brand Australia”

27th May 2021 | Eativity editors
Building trust in "brand Australia"

The Australian Government has awarded Seafood Industry Australia (SIA) a grant for a traceability program that will boost consumer confidence in Aussie seafood. Minister for Agriculture David Littleproud and Assistant Minister for Fisheries Jonathon Duniam say that the investment will boost export opportunities and build confidence in “brand Australia”.

“With this funding, SIA will develop a closed loop ‘trust mark’; a visually recognisable label for packaging that can be scanned with a smartphone, like a QR code,” Littleproud says. “This will indicate to consumers that the product they’re buying is 100 percent traceable Australian seafood, which they can verify digitally.”

Assistant Minister Duniam says the technology will improve opportunities to access international markets as well as promoting Australian seafood locally.

“By deploying these trust marks, we can verify our seafood in the domestic market and shore up our brand overseas,” Duniam says. “Unfortunately, seafood is a market where fraudulent products can significantly devalue exports. But advancements like this will help our seafood industry to better use traceability to set their product apart.”

Building trust in "brand Australia": Marine Stewardship Council certified Glacier 51 Toothfish
Marine Stewardship Council certified Glacier 51 Toothfish features in some of the world’s top restaurants.

Brand Australia, here and overseas

The new tech will hopefully also allow Australians to identify local seafood more easily. This would provide a boost to the Great Australian Seafood campaign launched last year.

“We’ve been working to build brand awareness within Australia,” says SIA CEO Veronica Papacosta. “Now it’s time to turn our focus to international markets. We’re starting by testing the technology. “Hopefully, it can then be rolled out across the entire industry.”

The program will pilot digital traceability using Austral Fisheries Glacier 51 Toothfish as the case study. This product was the winner of Best Sustainable Seafood Product at the 2020 and 2021 Sustainable Seafood Awards. On-package trust marks will feature Laava Smart Fingerprints. Each fingerprint is a serialised, scannable mark that’s unique to each individual product. In addition, this technology is also applicable to other industries.

“Greater traceability for Australian produce will underpin confidence in brand Australia in export markets,” Papacosta says.