Marketing snapshot - Hortlink 2018, edition 2

This Hort Innovation Apple and Pear Fund marketing snapshot has been taken from Hort Innovation’s Hortlink 2018, edition 2.

Hort Innovation is responsible for investing the apple and pear marketing levy into a range of activities to grow awareness and consumption, under the Hort Innovation Apple and Pear Fund.

A successful stand at the Sydney Royal Easter Show, an integrated Hailstorm Heroes campaign to support South Australian growers, and the kick-off of the new 2018 Aussie Apples campaign are among the highlights of recent marketing efforts.

COMBINED MARKETING ACTIVITY

Sydney Royal Easter Show

Australian Pears and Aussie Apples were again present at the Sydney Royal Easter Show in late March/early April 2018, with a highly visual and engaging exhibit well-positioned at the entrance of the Woolworths Food Farm.

This year 782,000 attendees enjoyed the show, with 553,000 entering the Woolworths Food Farm. Floor staff, with the help of Aussie Apples mascot Mr Crunch, sold apple and pear slinkies, whole fruit and apple juice, and also gave out recipe cards. On top of that, orchardist Barney Hyams taught school groups about apples and pears.

Despite this year’s show being two days shorter than that of 2017, and not in the school holidays, the exhibit saw a 13 per cent increase in sales of slinkies, fruit and juice compared to last year, with show attendees engaged by the exhibit and its offerings.

Hailstorm Heroes campaign

In the wake of the severe hailstorm that hit Adelaide Hills and the South East last October, Hort Innovation launched a ‘Hailstorm Heroes’ campaign in April to assure South Australian and Northern Territory consumers that fruit with a few spots and dots was still delicious.

The campaign built on the success of the 2016 national Hailstorm Heroes campaign, which was undertaken to support Goulburn Valley pear growers after another massive hailstorm.

Delivered in partnership with the local industry, the campaign involved 30-second radio advertisements and Facebook posts. A supporting public relations campaign targeted the media, producing 80 pieces of coverage to date with a reach of more than 3.2 million people combined across TV, radio, print, online and social media.

Hort Innovation also worked with growers, Brand SA and retailers to create Hailstorm Heroes branded packaging for the campaign, including special Hailstorm Heroes apple and pear packs for Coles, Aldi and independents, plus Hailstorm Heroes stickers for the Odd Bunch lines in Woolworths supermarkets.

In-store sampling in key supermarkets and independent grocers across South Australia and the Northern Territory was also used.

APPLE MARKETING ACTIVITY

Television campaign

With most varieties of new-season apples available in stores, the first burst of television activity for the Aussie Apples ‘Get Your Crunch On’ campaign was launched on April 29, with 30-second and 15-second spots in both the metropolitan and regional markets, as well as on subscription TV.

To ensure strong reach, the Aussie Apples TV commercial has been featuring in a variety of peak high-rating programs including MasterChef, The Voice and various news programs.

In 2018, Aussie Apples will be on TV for eight weeks of the year. With four weeks on air at the height of the apple season and another four weeks on air in the second half of the year, it will ensure apples have strong visibility throughout the year.

Digital media activity

The Aussie Apples digital campaign commenced on April 1, before the first TV burst. The Aussie Apples TV commercial featured on key online sites, including on catch-up TV networks (9now, 10play and plus7), along with premium placements on news and entertainment websites.

The first four weeks of the campaign delivered more than 300,000 views, with a video completion rate of 88 per cent and a viewability rate of 90 per cent – well above the industry benchmark of 70 per cent for each measure.

These great results can be attributed to the performance of catch-up TV, with the Aussie Apples TV commercial being placed in popular shows including Bachelor in Paradise and My Kitchen Rules. It was also able to be positioned during the Commonwealth Games.

Aussie Apples digital activity will continue throughout the year, synced with TV for maximum impact, and will be further amplified by YouTube and Spotify activity to target a younger demographic.

Social media

Aussie Apples has continued its ‘always on’ approach to Facebook, ensuring apples are engaging with consumers with interesting, shareable content. At the time of writing, the Aussie Apples social media campaign had delivered more than 6.8 million ‘impressions’ (the number of time content has appeared to people) and 2.9 million engagements since May 2017.

Posts have included videos, and in recent times have leveraged off the Sydney Royal Easter Show, and the Easter season in general, among other events.

You can check out the Aussie Apples Facebook page here.

PEAR MARKETING ACTIVITY

Social media

The Australian Pears social media campaign delivered almost six million impressions and more than two million engagements (video views, comments and sharing) between June 2017 and April 2018. This was achieved through engaging content featuring pear recipes, varieties and health benefits tied to pop culture and current events.

Strong-performing posts included a pear recipe from popular TV cooking show My Kitchen Rules. This post delivered 89,000 engagements and 134,000 impressions, giving it an extremely high engagement rate of 67 per cent.

The second-best-performing post featured a Beurre Bosc cake recipe. It achieved 202,000 impressions and 126,000 engagements, with an engagement rate of 62 per cent.

You can see the Australian Pears Facebook page here.

MyFoodBook activity

Australian Pears continued its partnership with popular recipe and cookbook site, MyFoodBook (www.myfoodbook.com.au). The MyFoodBook community includes more than 200,000 subscribers and promotes recipes to more than 2.8 million people each month.

Since October 2017, Australian Pears have achieved 219,000 brand engagements, which include recipe viewing, sharing, exporting or saving. This has been achieved through videos, site sponsorships, cookbook downloads and social media.