Acosta, Inc. | Agency Profile, Contacts, AOR, Client Relationships

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Campaign Imminent: High Liner Foods appoints US foodservice AOR following CEO, marketing VP hire (Score 28)

reportedly excludes the upper New York area.

The shift follows the hire of former director of global expansion at Campbell Soup Company, Catherine Hu, as VP of marketing (December) and former SVP & GM at Lamb Weston, Rod Hepponstall, as CEO (May 2018).

The company also promoted Nadine Hodgdon from customer service manager to marketing coordinator (March); Rick Spalding from foodservice business intelligence leader to foodservice senior marketing manager (November); and Kristen Trueworthy from senior brand manager to director of brand & channel development (November).

We don't know when we'll see a new campaign from Acosta, but sellers should reach out now to remain top-of-mind. High Liner does not have a top spending period, instead spending highly throughout the year. It has a foodservice/B2B demographic (e.g., military, deli, health care facilities and k-12) and a consumer/retail demographic (wide-reaching, though millennials are always a safe bet since they have the most buying power).

Adbeat reports High Liner has only spent $2 on digital display within the last two years. With such a small allocation, I wouldn't expect much of the medium going forward. Focus instead on trade marketing, which makes up the majority of High Liner's budgets.

High Liner reported in its 2018 annual report that SG&A expenses in 2018 decreased to $81.6m from that of $90.4m in 2017, primarily because of lower consumer marketing expenditures and other cost saving initiatives. However, with the new personnel and agency, I would expect those decreases to reverse themselves.

Agency & martech readers -- since reviews tend to follow one another, there may be work to pick up at High Liner's retail business, which includes Sea Cuisine. We don't know who you may find among your competition for that account. Focus pitches on differentiating the brands from competitors like Gorton's.