Transforming a Business Model From B2B to B2C

Challenge

As the world’s leading salmon farming company, Marine Harvest (now MOWI), faced the brunt of category headwinds that questioned the practices of salmon farming – from the well-being of the fish to the environmental impact of fish farms, to the health claims of farmed salmon. The dialogue around farmed salmon needed to change.

Solution: Introduce & Execute a new direction for the company

This was done via a two-pronged strategy. First, we changed the name of the company from Marine Harvest to MOWI. This was done to lay the groundwork for a more brand-driven company that brought forth the identity and values of the company founder – Mowinkel. It was also done to signal a commitment to transparency and caring.
The second part of the strategy was to launch a B2C offering.
MOWI was a pure B2B company. As a consequence, they did not have a consumer-driven platform to direct the narrative around the category. Moreover, a B2C offering allowed the company to generate greater profitability per salmon sold. Since MOWI did not have consumer marketing expertise, Topline Marketing stepped in as their interim marketing team – setting up the brand strategy, go-to-market plan, developing marketing assets, setting up operations, and introducing key partners.

Results

Successfully rolled out the MOWI corporate brand worldwide. Successfully introduced the MOWI consumer offering in key global markets, notably the United States, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Poland, and Spain. Introduced (and knowledge-transferred) new capabilities into the organization such as shopper marketing, brand marketing, product innovation, packaging, and marketing operations.