Bringing Maine to the Mountains

Lead PI: John Herrigel

PI Email: johnherrigel@gmail.com

Co-PI: David Lasky, Maine Oyster Company

Project Team: John Herrigel & David Lasky, Maine Oyster Company

Abstract: As Goal 3 of the Maine Aquaculture Roadmap articulates, Maine needs to expand awareness of its aquaculture products and increase engagement with the Maine brand. Our proposal directly addresses these needs. As the pandemic revelaed, Maine aquaculture products need new, and different, sales channels that are not dependent on tourism, the regional restaurant market, and local consumption. New markets decoupled from more traditional sales channels can provide an important hedge against future disruptions. Mountain Salt Seafood (MSS) and the Maine Oyster Company (MOC) propose the development and deployment of an advocacy and advertising campaign promoting the Maine oyster brand to the residents of Colorado’s Northern Front Range (Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins, Golden and all four respective greater metro areas). The intent will be to leverage these campaigns to develop new Direct-To-Consumer (DTC) markets for Maine aquaculture products in general and oysters in specific. The goal of this project is to generate consumer awareness of Maine oysters specifically and the Maine aquaculture brand more broadly. The resulting objective is for direct-to-consumer sales of oysters in Colorado to develop more fully. A secondary goal is to see restaurant sales increase as well. Finally, an additional goal is for Mountain Salt Seafood and Maine Oyster Company to leverage their respective competencies to minimize cost, maximize effectiveness, and act as a reproduceable model for cross regional collaboration. The project will start with a market analysis, followed by a series of “Meet your Maine Oyster Farmer” oyster tasting events, marketing asset creation, and culminating with an advertising campaign informed by the first three phases.

Project Dates: May 2022 – June 2023

Project Funding: Maine Aquaculture HUB

https://themaineoystercompany.com/mainetomountain