Only a small proportion of the consum- 

 ing public has been exposed to promotional 

 or advertising material for sardines. In 

 view of the limited budgets of most sardine 

 packers, it would be advisable for them to 

 channel advertising and promotional expend- 

 itures through a central agency of an in- 

 dustry association as is done in Maine. By 

 means of such a program, a consistent, co- 

 herent, and more widespread promotional 

 caii5)aign could be undertaken. 



Household consumer demand for sardines 

 is not as strong as the demand for other 

 canned fish; only 5 percent of the respond- 

 ents in any of the survey cities expressed 

 their preference for sardines. If any sub- 

 stantial progress is to be made in increas- 

 ing sardine consumption, it is particularly 

 important that a strong and sustained effort 

 be made to raise the prestige of the product. 

 Of nesirly equal importance vould be the 

 introduction of product innovations which 

 would give the product wider appeal. 



Promotional and advertising efforts 

 must be directed toward increasing the 

 frequency with which sardines are used and 

 also toward increasing the proportion of 

 user households. There are serious weak- 

 nesses in both these areas at the present 

 time. 



and serving sardines. Results of the 

 research would provide a constant supply 

 of recipes and product uses which then 

 would be presented to the public through 

 advertising and promotional media. At the 

 present time, the vast majority of house- 

 wives are unable to indicate any source 

 from which sstrdine recipes are obtained. 



Special prices on the larger c£m of 

 sardines should be associated with new 

 recipe ideas in an effort to increase the 

 sales of the large can. Cons\mier satis- 

 faction with the smaller can is very hi^ 

 at present; however, it is related to the 

 limited use made of sardines. Indications 

 are that this satisfaction could be over- 

 come by means of special price inducements 

 for the piirchase of the larger cem and by 

 making housewives aware of uses >rtiich 

 Involve greater quantities of sardines. 



A promotional program directed at the 

 restaurant trade is required. The propor- 

 tion of consumers ordering sardines in 

 public eating places Is very small. Spe- 

 cial advertising materisLl designed to 

 inform restaurant owners and cooks should 

 be prepared and distributed. The purpose 

 of this program would be to Increase the 

 number of sardine offerings on restaurant 

 menus. 



Another area in which there is a 

 possibility of increasing sardine consump- 

 tion is indicated by the different serving 

 habits noted in the three cities. In both 

 Boston and Detroit, seirdines are served 

 much less frequently as a dinner item than 

 in Birmingham. One of the functions of any 

 educational campaign designed to increase 

 sardine use should be to widen the practice 

 of serving sardines for dinner. 



A method of increasing the use of the 

 product as a dinner item is suggested by 

 the small number of sardines served per per- 

 son at any meal (about 5 to 7 sardines). 

 If sardines are to be used as a main course, 

 it is important that recipes be developed 

 which would require sardines to be used in 

 larger quantities. 



It would be advisable for seu-dine 

 packers to contribute to the support of a 

 full-time experimental kitchen. The pri- 

 meiry function of such an establishment 

 would be to investigate ways of prepeurlng 



As new methods of serving or packing 

 sardines are developed, particular emphasis 

 should be placed on sauces or additives 

 that would reduce the amount of oil. It 

 also would be advisable to disguise the 

 taste of sardines so as to make the quali- 

 ties presently associated with aftertaste 

 more acceptable to consumers. 



Because of the differences which 

 appear among the leading indexes for the 

 three cities, at least some newspaper and 

 magazine promotional themes should have 

 more limited appeal to consumer buying 

 motives. Limitations of this sort woxild 

 enable the advertiser to vsiry or control 

 his activities on a local or regional 

 basis . 



Unless the shape of the can is changed, 

 consumers perfer that a key be supplied. 



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