The Challenge: The Blue Food Assessment (BFA), a joint initiative of Stanford University, the Stockholm Resilience Centre, and EAT, was seeking to launch a landmark series of scientific papers focusing on different aspects of “blue foods” and their role in sustainable food systems transformation. The BFA wanted to communicate the value and specific findings of each research paper, whilst also highlighting the sum of the whole as the most extensive research into blue foods to date.
Our Approach: To achieve these aims, Marchmont developed a phased media engagement plan that included:
- Coordinating the media launch plan alongside the academic publisher, BFA leads, paper authors and their university press teams.
- Packaging up the individual research papers to tell a compelling overall story to media most interested in the global narrative.
- Carrying out targeted outreach for each paper, engaging with journalists and specialist outlets according to each paper’s main themes.
- Supplementing this outreach with a series of op-eds, building the visibility of the BFA and its key spokespeople as advocates for blue foods in future food systems transformation.
Outcomes:
- Marchmont’s media outreach secured more than 500 pieces of coverage, ranging from global top tier media to specialist publications and non-English-language outlets.
- This included coverage from the likes of AP News, Axios, CNN, Economist Impact, New Scientist and Reuters as well as specialist media such as Down to Earth, Earth.com and SciDev.
- A range of opinion pieces authored by Blue Food Assessment researchers were also produced and placed in a broad selection of international media. Highlights included placements in Al Jazeera, euronews, the Hill and The Economist’s World Ocean Initiative.
