The Curiously Effective History of Rebranding Seafood

About a hundred years ago, lobster got fancy. Before then, it was considered a peasant's food, only legally fit to be fed to servants a maximum of three times per week. Then the rise of the railroad industry allowed fishermen on the coasts to sell it on board the trains as a delicacy which the rest of the country only started to discover. Demand took off, supply reduced and the prices elevated. Lobster became desirable and expensive.

The Antarctic Toothfish was an ugly and terribly named species of fish that sounds so unappetizing, no one would eat it. And then it was rebranded Chilean Sea Bass and demand started to pick up. Perhaps more than any other category in the food industry, seafood has often enjoyed these boom or bust sales cycles based on how species are branded. Lately, the newest rebranding is happening to the Copi, which was previously known as the Asian Carp.

It's an invasive species that is threatening to overtake all others in the Great Lakes, but the solution may be finally convincing Americans to eat it. The rebranding is starting to get some attention. Time will tell if it can become the next big seafood rebranding success story, but it's hard to recall another food category where consumer tastes have been quite so completely reshaped by effective branding and marketing.