As the U.S. wild-caught seafood category leader, the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) offers free merchandising and customized in-store support to help retailers drive sales of Alaska seafood year-round.

COOK IT FROZEN!®  Techniques

Retailers can boost sales of frozen Alaska seafood with ASMI’s COOK IT FROZEN! techniques. ASMI developed a series of COOK IT FROZEN! techniques (sautéing, roasting, broiling, poaching, steaming and grilling) to support frozen Alaska seafood products and to provide convenient healthy meal options to today’s time-starved consumers.  Frozen Alaska seafood portions can be prepared in as little as 15 minutes — with no thawing or pre-planning needed! The objective of the program is to provide retailers and seafood buyers an easy to execute program that will offer opportunities to grow seafood sales and educate consumers about cooking Alaska seafood.

COOK IT FROZEN! In-store demo

ASMI has worked with many of the largest retailers in the U.S. to promote the COOK IT FROZEN! techniques via in-store demonstrations.   ASMI has a network of personal chefs they use to execute the in-store demos for many retail partners; other retailers have their own demo staff/teams. ASMI conducted over 5,000 COOK IT FROZEN! demonstrations in retail locations across the country during the 2016 Lenten/Post-Lenten and summer season, generating 40 percent average total lift for all stores! The promotion was so successful during the Lenten/Post-Lenten season that in-store demonstrations carried into the summer season and during the October through December holiday period.

ASMI provides everything retailers need to execute a COOK IT FROZEN! promotion free of charge, from in-store demos and merchandising materials to training.  Many retailers now look forward to promotional opportunities with ASMI throughout the year.

Chateau Ste. Michelle – ASMI Cross Merchandising Promotion

Alaska Sockeye Salmon with Chateau Ste. Michelle
wine promotional piece

Over the past four years ASMI’s Retail program has conducted a national co-op promotion with Ste. Michelle Wine Estates (SMWE) stretching from June through September. The promotion features all Alaska seafood species, with the hero graphic of Alaska salmon (Sockeye and Keta). The promotion involves wine displays located in/near the seafood department, including counter cards for seafood cases, supported by instant-redeem coupons for Alaska seafood. Coordinated social media postings strengthen the promotion at the consumer level. The 2016 promotion involved 25 retailers representing 19,343 stores.

ASMI provides assets that retailers can use to build their Alaska seafood promotions, and ASMI’s digital asset library (www.alaskaseafoodassets.com) has been a tremendous resource for retailers and restaurateurs alike by providing logos, recipes, attractive food and scenic/harvesting photography and videos.