Fish fingers have been a staple for generations of British families, and to the uninitiated might seem to represent a traditional, unchanging product, the sort of hardy perennial frozen food line that has helped Birds Eye Frozen Fish secure 26th place in the Checkout Nielsen Top 100, up from 27 last year.
According to Marc Kernic, Birds Eye’s customer marketing director, the launch of Omega 3 fish fingers was a big deal for his employer, on which some £7.5m was expended on marketing, in the process “creating fresh interest in this sector (that) will build on Birds Eye’s 76% brand share”.
Kernic suggests his company engaged in the biggest ever frozen food category promotion for this and nearly half its product range, which involved a monthly £1,000 prize draw, and with one winner a month having their mortgages paid off.
According to Kernic, Birds Eye is keen to appear “modern, inspiring and relevant to people today.” The primary aim is to increase purchase frequency of its popular mainstream core product range.
For these he lists fish fingers, frozen garden peas and branded lines such as Simply Cod, Chicken Dippers and Roast Dinners (see also Birds Eye Frozen Poultry 50 and Birds Eye Frozen Veg 75).
He says the company was aiming to do this with a mix of cross-category promotions, such as the mortgage payment initiative, and new generic communications campaigns.
2007 £171.0m
2006 £160.7m
yoy change 6.4%
