Sirena tuna was born in 1956, not long after the Valmorbida family immigrated to Australia from Italy. Since then, Sirena has crafted its reputation as a great tasting, premium quality tuna with its iconic mermaid logo and yellow tin.

In 2016, Sirena engaged One Small Step Collective to conduct in-depth consumer research. Sirena wanted to build their understanding of the tuna category, their competitors, consumers and brand perceptions. There was a need to gain robust and actionable insights, so that they could better target potential brand and category growth.

To tackle the research, we developed a three stage approach.

In the first phase, we used social data analytics platform Crimson Hexagon to glean insights into the conversation around purchasing and consuming tuna, as well as brand perceptions. This gave us a solid foundation to validate our questions and direct the brief for the following phases.

We then interviewed 30 shoppers and consumers of tuna. We asked participants to film themselves as they shopped for tuna, or tested the product at home. These types of interviews are always really valuable – the context and their candid nature often reveals insights beyond the scope of the questions.

Finally, we undertook a two-part online survey of 3,000 Australian tuna shoppers and consumers. This stage allowed us to quantify our findings.

The results have been really interesting, and even challenged some assumptions within the business. We’ve been able to establish key understandings about the category, the Sirena brand, and their competitors, which will feed into a marketing action plan and campaign development for the masterbrand.