KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
A local marketing committee is facing a deadline to craft a strategy promoting Kodiak’s seafood as environmentally responsible. The Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation recently awarded the Kodiak Branding and Marketing Committee $17,000 to develop the plan. The Kodiak Island Borough was required to match the grant, for a combined $34,000 now being allocated toward the effort.
But under the terms of the grant, the foundation’s money has to be spent by March 31st. So the branding committee, which is a subcommittee of the Kodiak Chamber of Commerce, has retained a Seattle-based fisheries consultant to develop the strategy.
A main selling point is the Kodiak Electric Association’s use of wind power generated on Pillar Mountain. KEA has already partnered with Pacific Seafoods, formerly Island Seafoods, which last summer announced it would start touting the use of wind power at its Kodiak plant.
Chamber Executive Director Trevor Brown says he hopes other processors will follow suit. The challenge, he says, is that the processors’ presence in Kodiak is largely limited to operations. That, Brown says, is why an outside marketing consultant can bridge the gap.
— branding 1 :46 "These guys here … the processors on this."
Waterfront Associates of Seattle is headed up by Steven Minor. The bulk of the grant money is being steered to his office which is working to push the sustainable brand on marketing departments for seafood processors with a Kodiak presence.
— branding 2 :33 "I’m not sure there is … energy source at all."
At a branding and marketing committee meeting this week, members brainstormed ways to tout Kodiak’s image as a responsible producer. The working title has been "Sustainable Kodiak." Brown emphasizes this effort is not to make a regional brand for the island.
— branding 3 :39 "This is more of a … in those areas with success."
But getting the processors to get on board to integrate a "Sustainable Kodiak" brand into its product line won’t be easy, says Minor.
— branding 4 :35 "That’ll be one of the great … the biggest challenge of this."
The deadline to spend the foundation grant is in little more than two months. Brown says that means they’ll be working quickly.
— branding 5 :18 "What we’re looking at doing … and continue on."
The Kodiak Branding and Marketing Committee is next scheduled to meet in mid-February.
