John West Australia releases The ‘Unlimited Edition’ Project via Cummins&Partners
Iconic seafood brand, John West has recently launched its latest work developed with Cummins&Partners, The ‘Unlimited Edition’ Project.
John West Australia has overhauled its supply chain and now only sources tuna certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), the world’s best standard in sustainability. This accreditation makes John West Australia not only the best, but also the world’s most sustainable tuna brand. However, it also posed somewhat of a communications challenge as ‘sustainable’ is a difficult concept for many shoppers to understand, or care about.
John West Australia saw the need to re-frame its sustainable credentials in a way that consumers would readily understand. Insights from Cummins&Partners unlocked that people understood the concept of ‘sustainable’ equaling having something ‘forever’, and from this insight the ‘Unlimited 
Edition’ work was born.
To dramatise the possibility of a world without fish thanks to unsustainable fishing methods, John West launched a fake tuna brand called ‘Finnish Tuna‘ in partnership with MSC and WWF. They distributed cans of Finnish Tuna to unsuspecting commuters – only for them to find that, when they opened the cans, there was nothing in them but water and a message, “Imagine a world without fish”. This appealed to consumers to think about their choices at supermarket shelves and the impact they can have on the environment.
This was followed by the introduction of the John West ‘Unlimited Edition Can’ – turning typical marketing language on its head to celebrate John West tuna now being MSC certified. Further to this, John West is committed to reaching 1 million dollars for WWF ocean conservation projects, helping to ensure we have ‘healthy oceans forever’. This will be supported with broadcast media, POS and digital content. The entire campaign has also had a strong earned media component via social media and PR, developed and executed by Mango Communications in conjunction with Cummins&Partners.
Says Jim Ingram, co-ECD at Cummins&Partners: “We are very proud of this work. Making people care about sustainability, and transferring that to sales of John West is a complicated communications objective. Our campaign has a number of moving parts, but all of it revolves around making it easy for consumers to understand that John West’s sustainable credentials are what makes it the best tuna.”
Says Stephanie Dore-Smith, senior brand manager John West at Simplot: “From the pitch to production the Cummins&Partners team has been great to work with. Our idea has captured a lot of people’s imagination and we couldn’t be more happy with the work.”
Creative Agency: Cummins&Partners
Creative: Jim Ingram – Executive Creative Director
Ben Couzens – Executive Creative Director
Chris Ellis – Senior Copywriter
Aaron Lipson – Senior Art Director
Damian Royce – Creative Director
Account Management
Rod Mooseek – Group Account Director
Brioni Pickhaver – Senior Account Director
Alisa Mezhov – Senior Account Manager
Strategy
Adam Ferrier – Global Chief Strategy officer
James Bennett – Planner
Production
Naomi Nienaber – Producer
PR
Mango Communications
Rebecca Ahern – Managing Director
Amanda Sheat – Account Director
Lauren Hunt – Account Manager
Emma Paolucci – Account Coordinator
Production Company:
Plaza Films
Director: Paul Middleditch
Executive Producer: Peter Masterton
31 Comments
Why on earth would you PR this?
But pretty ornary work.
Seems to have lost its sense of humour somewhere along the way.
is it just me or is it really sad how unfunny advertising has become?
You bought a fish?
I bought a fish.
You bought… a fish?
Yes, I bought a fish!
Very insightful and clever idea
Absolutely hilarious!
Congrats to all involved.
Ignore the haters. The punters are going to love this.
Finnish Tuna is the real story here and it is very good.
This idea of taking something away, then bringing in the solution is very smart. I dig.
No one does physical comedy like Middleditch.
When that fisherman spits out the water.
Comedy gold.
Finnish Tuna is very clever.
The TV is entertaining for such a dry message. Only a little John West humour but probably what the client wanted to make.
Finnish tuna = Cannes Gold for sure.
The art guy on frame left did a great job not wetting the rear projector while he was throwing those buckets of water.
Seriously?
You guys seriously think that this is good work, worthy of awards?
Fucking seriously?
This industry is properly fucked if this level of absolute dogshit is considered good.
And yes, I’m including the fucking stupid pun masquerading as an idea Finnish fucking Tuna in this.
Fucking hell people. Just fucking hell.
“Absolutely hilarious.” “Comedy Gold.” “Cannes Gold for sure.”
Did I miss the joke?
I have to say that this is pretty lame. I saw it on the television and it didn’t strike me as being funny at all.
How is this comedy gold? Missed the mark for me. Snore…
Just watched the Finnish Tuna video and told my creative partner about the idea. He swore because he’d been saving a tin for a lunch this week. Then he swore again because he was jealous of the idea. It was very satisfying to watch him open it.
I work at Cummins and my god this is genius. Great insight, I mean the can has always been there, and always will! Cummins really nailed it. People are going to be lining up out the door at the supermarket to buy John West now.
HASHTAG NAILED IT
This is Cannes Platinum™ for sure.
Fucking amazing work.
Really amazing.
Wow, you seem a little too angry @You’re shitting me.
Big smart idea and construct. Well played.
Step away from the keyboard, oh warrior of the uppercase.
Your task is complete, Mr state the fucking obvious with less eloquence than an elephant on a ski lift.
I hope you’re not in management, as you clearly struggle to manage your perception of reality. Let alone the gods you work with. The gods whom are gracious enough to not slay you on your ergonomic imitation designer office chair. ‘Cretin’, the knock-off furniture joint calls it.
Take a break. Breathe. Try shit. No really, try shitting. It will help you unclench.
May thou most primeval of the primates learn to live again, like a human being.
And grow a sense of humour.
Twat.
what a steamer.
I’m back.
Solid campaign idea.
Like [thumbs]
it’s not bad.
the 30 sec spot is pretty rubbish though
I leave it to others to argue the creative merits of the execution. My problem is with the strategic intent of this campaign.
It’s true that our oceans are overfished and depleted. But the solution proposed by this campaign is a cynical exploitation of that fact.
According to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, wild-catch fisheries production peaked in 2004-05 in Australia at just under 280,000 tonnes, and has declined consistently ever since.
This is indicative of trends in the global ocean-fishing sector. The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation has stated that global fisheries have already peaked in their production.
The future of the fishing industry lies in aquaculture (fish farming), not the continued promotion of wild-fish harvested products, regardless of whose endorsement John West has ‘earned’.
Aquaculture has its own environmental issues (Macquarie Harbour in Tasmania, for example) but as a still-developing industry, these look a lot more surmountable than supporting the continued exploitation of our oceans.
But hey, at least it was nicely shot.
It may change how people feel, or feel the need to be. Doubt it will actually change behavior. Unless of course, there is more to come.
I care about the ocean but only to a point.
When I buy tuna I still buy Sirena because, guess what – taste matters more (to me, but I’m sure I’m not alone).
And what if I want to save the ocean? I will either buy less tin tuna or refrain from buying it at all. Problem solved…for me at least.
P.S. I wonder how they got over the legal hurdle of practically insulting an entire country…
I care about the ocean but not enough.
I still buy Sirena because guess what, taste is more important. If I want to save the ocean, I guess I’ll buy tin tuna less or not at all. Solution is easy.
Witty or not, I wonder how they managed to get over the legal issues of slandering of an entire country…
You’re a really weak writer.
Let’s be honest. If you want tuna that tastes good you buy fresh or Sirena. If not, you buy whichever of the green ones (John West / Greenseas) or home brand is stacked to the frigging roof of your local coles / woolies for 25cents a tin. A shitty ad or stunt for the sake of an award entry aint gonna change that!