Asanka de Silva, marketing controller at John West, believes the UK is lagging behind the continent when it comes to eating the John West brand with salads.
While the John West's flagship tuna brand will continue to focus its marketing as a sandwich and jacket potato filling, de Silva believes the brand could benefit from targeting salad eaters in future advertising.
Future marketing plans have as yet not been signed off, but 2012 is expected to be a busy year for the brand.
It is rolling out its first press ads for a number of years, which will highlight its "trace the source" initiative. The press ads will run in a number of national newspaper and magazine titles.
They will highlight consumer's ability to trace the source of John West tuna, tinned mackerel and sardines.
De silva said: "We want to give consumers the same powers in sardines and mackerel as they have in tuna"
The brand's tuna range now carry a code which consumers can enter into a dedicated part of the John West website, www.john-west.co.uk, to trace where the tuna was fished. The code also reveals the tuna's species and the name of the John West fishing boat it was caught from, alongside an accompanying picture.
According to Nielsen, sales of John West canned fish hit £145m in 2009, up 7% on the previous year.
Sales have been helped by innovation such as John West's 'No Drain Less Mess Tuna', which removes the hassle of draining oil or brine from the can.
John West continues to fight a close battle against rival Princes, which hit sales of £149m in 2009.
This year, John West's £6m provenance, marketing campaign, which included TV ads aired during shows including 'The X Factor' and 'Downton Abbey', marked its biggest marketing initiative since 2001.
John West ranked seventh out of eight brands in Greenpeace's 2011 tinned tuna league table, which ranks tinned fish companies according to their responsible sourcing and sustainability credentials.
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