Haaland’s World Cup success strengthens Norway’s position as a seafood nation

When Erling Haaland became an ambassador for Norwegian seafood in 2024, the aim was to strengthen the connection between Norwegian seafood and one of Norway’s most internationally recognised sports stars. The campaign results from this summer clearly demonstrate the impact a global figure can have on Norwegian seafood.

Across markets, campaigns featuring Haaland consistently achieve greater visibility and strong results.

FIFA World Cup 2026: a unique opportunity

The 2026 men’s FIFA World Cup presented one of the biggest marketing opportunities to date in the partnership between the Norwegian Seafood Council and Erling Haaland. With Norway’s men’s national team finally participating, global interest in the tournament offered Norwegian seafood a unique platform to reach millions of consumers. The campaigns focused on quality and Norwegian origin, with Norway superstar Erling Haaland taking centre stage.

Some of the more remarkable activities involved the Haaland campaign making its mark both in on the billboards over Times Square for 24 hours, and as a 27-metre aerial banner in the skies above Miami with the message "I choose salmon from Norway".

And now the results of the paid campaigns are clear: they generated exceptionally high levels of attention and raised consumer awareness of Norwegian seafood.

Camilla Beck, Strategic Advisor at the Norwegian Seafood Council, says: “The campaigns attracted a great deal of attention and strengthened the association with Norwegian origin and Seafood from Norway. But what matters most is what this can help achieve over time: encouraging more people to eat salmon more often and make a conscious choice to buy Norwegian salmon.”

When fish and football went viral

Alongside paid media, considerable effort went into securing earned media coverage during the World Cup. Activities, events, articles and other initiatives ran throughout the tournament, generating interest from both traditional and social media.

The story of the Norway national team bringing its own seafood to its World Cup training camp in the USA attracted particularly widespread international attention, with an estimated global reach of 1.4 billion and 1,300 media mentions.

Martin Skaug, Director of Marketing and Communications at the Norwegian Seafood Council, says: “The attention surrounding the national team’s seafood shipment reflected a level of global interest that we could not have planned for. All we could do was set the stage. The chef Aron Espeland and his colleagues, together with enthusiastic football fans around the world, did the rest. The national team’s menu went viral, and seafood was a major part of that.”

Read the story: Norwegian seafood has gone viral during the World Cup

Norwegian salmon in the USA and China

The Haaland campaign delivered particularly strong results in the USA, one of the World Cup’s host nations. High levels of attention and Haaland’s prominent role helped far more consumers associate the campaign with Seafood from Norway, Norwegian origin or Norway itself, with figures rising from 16% in 2024 to 59% during this year’s campaign.

The campaign also reinforced several key perceptions of Norwegian salmon, including that it is healthy, high-quality, and easy to prepare for everyday meals. At the same time, the proportion of consumers naming Norwegian salmon as their preferred choice increased, particularly among young families and those willing to pay more.

The results show the campaign not only attracted attention but also helped strengthen Norwegian salmon’s position in the American market.

The World Cup campaign also delivered very strong results in China. It achieved high visibility and set a new benchmark for consumers’ ability to identify Seafood from Norway as the brand behind the campaign. This further strengthened Norwegian salmon’s already robust position in the Chinese market.

Sigmund Bjørgo, the Norwegian Seafood Council’s Country Director in China, says: “We saw consumers’ perceptions of Norwegian salmon strengthen further through associations with premium quality and suitability for sashimi, the preferred way of eating raw salmon in China. Purchase intent also increased among several attractive target groups, including high-income consumers and those willing to pay for premium.”

German campaign results

A campaign involving TV, social media, outdoor, and digital advertising promoting Norwegian salmon with Haaland as its figurehead, was also launched in Germany. The results showed that the activities and messaging attracted attention, and that consumers clearly recognised Seafood from Norway as a brand.

However, the impact on preference and purchase intent was weaker than in the USA and China. The campaign did not strengthen key associations with Norwegian salmon or consumers’ reasons for buying it in Germany.

Beck says: “We believe future campaigns should place greater emphasis on combining attention-grabbing communications with even clearer reasons to buy. The aim is to encourage consumers both to eat salmon more often and to make a more conscious choice to buy Norwegian salmon.”

Creating long-term value

Skaug adds: “In an increasingly competitive global protein category, standing out is essential. Haaland plays an important role here. His international appeal gives Norwegian seafood an even greater visibility and helps build a clearer, more attractive position for Norway as a seafood nation.”

The results so far also highlight the importance of building on this attention through targeted communications and activities that can strengthen preference and purchase intent.

Skaug concludes: “Our goal is to continue strengthening the position of Norwegian seafood in key markets, increase consumers’ desire to choose Norwegian seafood and contribute to long-term value creation across the Norwegian seafood industry. With Haaland as a part of our team, we are well placed to achieve this.”