Aquamar Seafood Brand Identity

Aquamar is a U.S.-based seafood company with deep roots in B2B foodservice, where it built its reputation as a leading surimi supplier. With an expanding product portfolio and growing retail ambitions, Aquamar is making its move from single-category supplier to a modern seafood company built for North America.

Aquamar came to us at an inflection point. For decades, this U.S. based seafood company had long been known as a reliable surimi supplier (also known as imitation crab meat) serving the B2B foodservice world. But the business was evolving fast. Their product portfolio was expanding, retail opportunities were emerging, and the brand was beginning its transition from a single-category surimi company into a modern, seafood company built for North America.

The problem: the brand hadn’t kept up.

While Aquamar had strong heritage—its founders helped ignite the original sushi boom in the 70s and 80s—the category had become crowded and commoditized. New entrants blurred together, decisions were dictated by price, and the existing brand identity blended in. None of it reflected the ambition or innovation shaping the company’s future.

To grow with both consumers and trade customers, Aquamar needed more than a facelift. It needed a full strategic and creative reset: a brand that could reclaim leadership in B2B, break through at retail, and tell a more compelling story about where seafood is headed next.

This opened the door for us to build the brand from the inside out—strategy, brand platform, identity, packaging, messaging, design system, photography, naming, and a modern digital presence—equipping Aquamar with everything it needs to compete as a dynamic seafood company, not just a commodity surimi supplier.

Seafood is a massive industry, yet so much of it feels stuck in place. Products look the same, packaging blends into a sea of blues, and most brands still lean on tired fisherman clichés. Even though Aquamar had a history of innovation and a founding story tied to the original sushi boom, none of that was showing up on shelf or in the trade world. It became clear that seafood hadn’t just become commoditized, it had lost its imagination.

At the same time, Aquamar’s business was evolving quickly. New products were coming and the company was beginning to shift from a surimi supplier into a full seafood company. To win in that environment, Aquamar needed more than a refreshed look. They needed a brand that could lead the category.

This led us to a strategic territory that became the anchor for the entire brand: every major human leap begins with a simple question: what if? When we applied that mindset to the category, the path forward was obvious. If seafood had lost its imagination, Aquamar could be the brand bold enough to bring it back.

From this strategic provocation came a new brand platform: Unfishingbelievable—a call to push the industry beyond convention by showing what happens when imagination meets seafood. It reframed Aquamar as a company that solves unmet consumer needs with ideas the category hasn’t seen before, backed by decades of expertise and a restless drive for innovation.

To give the brand a voice that could carry this future-forward story, we developed a bold attitude called Big Fish Energy: confident, modern, fun-loving, and unafraid to stand out. It allowed Aquamar to show up with personality in places where seafood brands are usually invisible, from B2B trade environments to retail aisles and digital channels.

With the platform and voice defined, we overhauled the identity from the ground up. The new logo, typography, colour system, and illustration style were designed to be unmistakable, legible, and full of energy. The system was built to flex across packaging, sales materials, digital experiences, trade shows (such as Seafood Expo North America also known as SENA, the leading trade event for seafood buyers in North America), POS, and everything in between.

We extended this into a full packaging redesign that established a clear, ownable presence on shelf and created consistency across product lines as the brand expands. To support launches across North America, we created a campaign toolkit that could scale regionally based on distribution, along with a retailer toolkit and a full library of imagery, iconography, and food styling assets to help internal teams and partners activate the brand with confidence.

By rebuilding Aquamar from strategy through identity and expression, the brand now reflects the company it has become: modern, imaginative, and ready to lead the future of seafood.

The brand refresh launched in March 2026. Early reception has been overwhelmingly positive, with some early proof points worth noting:

The Board of Directors shared that this is the brand they needed to finally realize their vision of expanding beyond surimi, and that it addresses the issues that held them back in trying to enter retail. 

Across the company there is real excitement. Teams have embraced the new identity and are championing what it unlocks for growth.

The sales team was so energized that they began sharing early previews with buyers. Those conversations have already sparked movement:

Walmart previously flagged that Aquamar’s packaging was too recessive on Walmart Connect and that they needed a stronger brand before considering new product listings. With the new identity, Walmart is re-evaluating that decision and exploring expanded listings beyond surimi.

Publix described Aquamar as the first truly consumer-oriented seafood brand they’ve seen in the category and have expressed interest in bringing Aquamar in. That deal is now in progress.

Costco opened up to a meeting after seeing the new fillet product, which led to acceptance of the new fillet products in West Coast Costco locations.

More to come as the brand officially entered the market in March 2026, but early signals show strong momentum and belief in the next chapter for Aquamar.