Supermarket giant, Sainsbury’s have decided to give the fish, Pollack a new name - Colin to be exact. Sounds a bit unorthodox aye - renaming one of God’s creatures - so what’s the reason for this unusual action? Well it seems some shoppers may find it a little embarrassing to ask for this humble but good value substitute for the less available cod.
So, in order to plough sales of Pollack forward, the marketing campaign for the fish has been given a makeover by designer Wayne Hemingway, and after a significant amount of market research, Sainsbury’s have settled on re-naming it colin… of all things.
So, where did the name colin appear from? Well for starters, it should be pronounced “colan” (hmm, will there be a phonetic spelling on the pack for people who don’t know that?). The name comes from the French word used when referring to cooked pollack. Ah, ok so there is a connection, not quite as random as we first thought! France is responsible for buying 70 per cent of British exports of the fish, so there’s another connection.
So, the fish has been all dolled up in fancy new packets, and 10 stores will trial how successful the re-branding (and re-naming) has been.
“It seems daft that pollack isn’t more popular, particularly when it’s readily available off our own coast, tastes great and is cheaper than cod,” comments Hemingway, founder of the fashion brand Red or Dead.
“Image really is everything; so to help colin stand out on-shelf we’ve used bold, bright colours and a design that is cheekily inspired by another well-known ‘Pollock’ [the artist Jackson Pollock]. The new-look colin sleeve will be the star of the Sainsbury’s store; we expect coach-loads to travel by land and sea to see it.”
So, you heard it hear first fish lovers - now, go and try the re-named, re-branded little fishy, and see itf it tastes the same!
