Getting the word out about Maine Lobster in 2025

By Marianne LaCroix

The Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative put together a marketing plan for 2025 designed to increase awareness of and demand for Maine lobster throughout the year. The target audience is high-volume wholesale buyers, with a secondary emphasis on consumers. The plan focuses on highlighting the premium nature of Maine lobster and positioning the product for celebratory moments throughout the year.

Marianne LaCroix is the executive director of the Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative.

Premium food brands set their products apart with robust asset libraries. While MLMC has ample lifestyle and recipe content, we needed additional photos and videos to position Maine lobster as a premium protein. We worked with a local photographer to produce high-end photos and videos that are available to anyone selling Maine lobster through our online content hub found in the ‘For Industry’ section of our website www.LobsterFromMaine.com.

Another new project is a digital toolkit designed to inspire chefs to reimagine popular menu items using Maine lobster. The toolkit will teach chefs how they can upsell by substituting or adding premium Maine lobster to dishes. A robust digital advertising program will ensure that key buyers across the U.S. see the toolkit.

To educate key buyers and provide the hands-on experiences they have requested, we are planning an immersive lobster industry experience. We will invite key restaurant group buyers and chefs, as well as volume buyers and tastemaker influencers, to Maine for a behind-the-scenes tour of the industry. During the visit, the buyers will meet people in all aspects of the industry and experience the harvesting, handling and processing of Maine lobster.

Consumers are a secondary target for the MLMC this year, but they remain an important one. Our focus in 2025 is to inspire consumers to incorporate Maine lobster when they host events. People often look to food influencers to make a meal as special as possible. The MLMC will partner with influencers to show how to celebrate moments big and small with Maine lobster — from brunch with friends or a game day party to a romantic dinner for two. The influencers will show how they shop for Maine lobster and create unique recipes to enhance any celebratory moment. Check out our first influencer partnership with Nicolle Laviolette on Instagram (@convinoboard) and her Maine Lobster Mac-n-Cheese in a bread bowl and Brie Cheese Maine Lobster Dip.

In addition to these new tactics, the MLMC maintains a year-round social media presence to keep Maine lobster top of mind among consumers. This year we are incorporating user-generated content into our owned social media channels to add authentic Maine lobster experiences to enhance our feed. We will tap into the trend for culinary tourism and take the opportunity to highlight local businesses and the people behind them. We will also demonstrate how Maine lobster can elevate any menu with simple recipes and hosting tips.

The MLMC uses paid advertising throughout the year to ensure that the right audiences see its content. The MLMC is partnering with two organizations to increase reach this year. SeafoodSource boasts one of the largest, most relevant seafood industry audiences available, coupled with a significant brand reputation built over many years providing high quality content. Maine lobster will run banner ads on their website, send targeted emails to a select subset of buyers, and run display ads in their newsletters. TASTE is a James Beard Award–winning online publication and podcast for home cooks and adventurous diners, tackling the most important issues in food and culture while highlighting influential voices. MLMC will partner with TASTE to develop branded podcasts and articles that will be promoted through its social media feeds and paid advertising.

The MLMC regularly emails updates to Maine fishermen, dealers and processors on marketing activities throughout the year. If you are not seeing these emails, contact MLMC at info@lobsterfrommaine.com and we will be sure to add you to our distribution list.