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Beeker Northam, Executive strategic director, Dentsu London

John West has often struck me as an interesting company. I don't know anything about its products or the way it does its main business, but from an industry perspective, its advertising has been quite a curious thing for quite a while.

From 'Bear fight' by Leo Burnett more than a decade ago (one of the ads deserving the 'viral' moniker, with more than 300m views) to more recent work by CheethamBell JWT, John West cares about its advertising enough to make it different.

This latest stuff is no exception.

An (actor) fisherman launches a data initiative where a code on every can can be traced online to the boat that caught the fish, wrapped in a story that's filmed nicely and goes for humour. It is a seafood company trying to make something funny and interesting, which is quite something.

Whether it does the brand strategy a service is not clear, as you can't tell from the film that there is one. This made me realise I've never known what John West's strategy is. The objective is obvious: demonstrate sustainability in a charming way.

That is not a brand strategy, however.

John West's site is a campaign bucket to accompany the advertising, the only brand material being a timeline and some history that focuses on company firsts. It doesn't talk about the extraordinary decade or so the company has had in terms of ownership. 'Bear fight' came under Heinz, which was succeeded by those fish experts, Lehman Brothers, shortly before they went under and Barclays took over. Most recently, the Thai Union Group stepped in, becoming the world's biggest canned seafood producer, which makes some of the 'small company sustainability' ethos a little brinier to swallow.

Lines over the years have ranged from discernment ('It's the fish John West rejects that make John West the best') to commitment ('John West endure the worst to bring you the best') to sustainability ('Discover the story behind every can'). This adds up to quality, I suppose, but still no brand strategy.

Marketing controller Asanka De Silva says the traceable cans are 'a major departure from where we've been before, when we've always been shy about sharing data'. This, I love. The decision to occlude the traceability story with a fake one about a fisherman's comb-over or lost lottery ticket, however, misses the chance to sell the process of finding the boat and sea responsible for your can.

The initiative is brilliant, but the strategy of 'a smallish company that cares about its food' isn't enough.