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Aquaculture is the industry that keeps Vietnam running. 

CAN WE HAVE A WORD?

Yet despite its importance, it continues to operate unsustainably. Current projections have the nation running out of fish to farm in our lifetime.

So we decided to make one.

Academics believed the blame lays with the language barrier. There's no single word for 'sustainability' in the Vietnamese language.

Our new word was based on the original Vietnamese word for fish — cá, but we turned the "a" into a fish.

Translation: "Sustainable Fish"

It's not every day the dictionary gains a new word. The media jumped on the story—it was picked up by 45 media outlets, including all major network television stations & newspapers.

Vietnam's Aquaculture Industry:
 

  • exports to 144 countries

  • worth $7 billion

  • output growth 5% every year

  • top 10 in global consumption  

  • domestic consumption: 27 kg per capita a year 

Suddenly, everyone was talking about sustainable seafood. It became a trendy item to order at restaurants, forcing demand back up the supply chain.

RESULTS
 

  • $100,000,000 media impressions

  • $20 million in earned media

  • $0 spent on marketing

  • 1400% increase in restaurant commitment to sustainability

  • 1 fashion label started

  • The most successful campaign in WWF Vietnam history

For almost a decade the government has poured money and resources into education and awareness targetting fish farmers.

But there had been no progress towards sustainability.
In fact, it the numbers had gotten worse.

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