Beauty and B2B: Insights from the Processing Side of Seafood Expo Global
Seafood Expo Global is a wild ride that bends time and space. Ask anyone who has really left it all on the field (or in this case, the show floor) in Barcelona and they’ll agree. You take in more in three days than you do in a month at your desk of conversations, samples, insights, innovations, a general cornucopia of sensory overload. It’s a huge inhale of all things seafood at all levels of business along the value chain and, for small teams especially, it demands a careful balance of agility and percolation.
As we’ve said before, we pick our battles. Our number one priority is always to be present. Number two is a realistic, sustainable content strategy. No post is worth missing a face-to-face moment that could shape a partnership, a project, or a spark of inspiration. We don’t aim to outpace the ever nebulous whims of The Internet™️. That pace isn’t built for a single human—it’s built from all of us (and our AI offspring.)
You want to be flexible, not hyperextend yourself. That’s why, while we love a hot trend to spice up the feed, we ground ourselves in something deeper that even the fickle algorithm can’t unweave: Inalienable human truths. We love, crave, fear, connect, explore, and are deeply drawn to beautiful things.
On the final day of SEG, we went looking for that beauty in an unlikely hall of the expo: the seafood processing section.
Now let’s be clear: in seafood processing, logistics, packaging, and cold chain infrastructure, beauty has traditionally taken a back seat to utility. And rightly so. These systems need to work—flawlessly, consistently, with no surprises.
But in a B2B marketing space function alone doesn’t get the job done. It also has to invite.
There already exists a real beauty in the industrial perfection of clean lines, high-polish steel, and lighting fit for a surgeons table. But this year, a few booths caught our eye by bringing a little flirtatiousness, charm, and whimsy into traditionally polished but somewhat unsexy territory.
So for our final “what caught our eye and why” installment, we’re tipping our hats to the brands that brought beauty, softness, and a little cheek to the processing side of seafood.
🛖 Ranheim Paper & Board – Fishing Cabin as Brand World
At SEG, a few booths broke out of the box—Ranheim Paper & Board did it literally. This Norwegian company, known for their sustainable packaging solutions, built a full-size rorbu (a traditional Norwegian fishing cabin) right in the middle of the floor. With salt whipped wood siding and lighting reminiscent of a kerosene lamp glow, alongside product displays and a cozy meeting and bar area inside, it made for a clever nod to over 1,000 years of coastal culture.
The rorbu dates back to before the year 900, built to house seasonal fishers flocking to the Lofoten archipelago. By building this booth, Ranheim wasn’t just showcasing their product—they were honoring the legacy of the people behind the catch. The ones who created the need for all this processing infrastructure in the first place.
Why it worked: It was unexpected, warm, story-driven, and steeped in a sense of place. A literal invitation into the why behind their world.
🍬 Rotogal – No One Expected Pastels
Rotogal is a global leader in rotational molding—making totes, containers, and pallets for the seafood, aquaculture, and food sectors. Necessary? Absolutely. Beautiful? Usually not so much.
But at SEG, this tiny corner booth flipped the script with a pastel color palette that looked straight out of a macaron shop. Given their sliver of real estate, they made a space that could have been passable pop with interest, using nothing but unexpected colors. Pale pinks, soft blues, minty greens, rich purples—it was sweet, simple, and impossible to walk by without doing a double take.
Why it worked: Their booth was small and incredibly simple, but the vibe was fresh and unexpected. The color story turned heads and made even the most practical products feel just a little bit charming.
🏖️ MED Frigo, Frigoscandia – The Siesta Spot You Didn’t Know You Needed
Logistics companies tend to lean into the classic tropes: power, efficiency, speed. But Frigoscandia showed up with something softer. Whitewashed walls, cushioned pallet seating, cool tones, breezy coastal textures, and lush tropical foliage. Was it Santorini? As a shipping and logistics brand focused on effective and efficient transport of seafood between Nordic region and the rest of Europe, they made it easy to imagine that, with their services, your product could make it from the great white north to more temperate climates in the Mediterranean no sweat. All we know is we sat down, and we didn’t want to leave.
Why it worked: In a show that’s high-key hustle, this booth felt like a pause button. It invited rest which, as it turns out, is a seriously underrated business strategy.
Why care about what’s beautiful and eye-catching when there are such deeply heavy topics—trade disruptions, political instability, climate stress—looming over the seafood world? Because we can hold all of that complexity and still be moved by beauty. And no matter how heavy things are, we still create it, seek it, and connect through it.
When Notre Dame Cathedral burned in 2019, the world raised over $900 million for its restoration. Don’t tell us beauty and awe doesn’t drive action.
This is your reminder that the “B” in B2B still stands for a person. Someone walking the floor, deciding who to trust, partner with, and buy from. Beauty isn’t a distraction from strategy—it’s a valuable part of strategy, when done right. In seafood, where we eat with our eyes first, there is no reason function and flair can’t share the same booth.
