LONDON: John West Australia has been awarded Best Engagement Campaign at the 2016 Ethical Corporation Responsible Business Awards. Ethical Corp’s prestigious Awards recognise and celebrate responsible business practice from around the globe
The winning project, a behaviour change campaign, was launched in February 2016 as part of the company’s commitment to Marine Stewardship Council certified sustainable tuna.
The campaign was part of John West Australia’s commitment that completely overhauled its supply chain to bring Australia the world’s largest offering of Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified sustainable canned tuna, enabling everyday Australians to be part of the solution for healthy oceans.
“The Award is well-deserved recognition of John West’s exceptional work and we are very proud to be working with this industry leader. The team at John West Australia have shown a real hunger for change in their seafood sourcing, and as a result of their hard work and determination they have achieved incredible results,” says Sarah Bladen, Global Communications and Marketing Director of the Marine Stewardship Council.
More than 100 million John West cans of tuna will now carry the MSC ecolabel demonstrating the seafood inside is sustainable and traceable from ocean to can. This single commitment means that 43% of Australia’s canned tuna is now certified as sustainable.
John West is thrilled to be recognised for its contribution to sustainable oceans.
“We’re extremely proud to be the first Australian brand to win this international award, being recognised on a global scale is instrumental in making real change. We’ve worked closely with our partners over the past 4 years to make this category shift – it’s timely momentum as we move into the next phase in leading the industry,” says Stephanie Dore-Smith, John West lead.
In 2012, John West partnered with WWF Australia to source sustainable tuna and as a result is now sourcing skipjack tuna from the MSC certified sustainable Parties of the Nauru Agreement (PNA) tuna fishery - the largest tuna fishery in the world.
The winning project conveyed the idea of sustainability through the use of ambassadors, television commercials, digital and a PR activation launching a “fake” tuna brand to grab attention on the possibility of a world without fish.