Marketing snapshot - September 2018

Hort Innovation is responsible for investing the papaya marketing levy into a range of activities to grow awareness and consumption, under the Hort Innovation Papaya Fund. Here’s a look at some of the most recent activity…

The marketing program’s focus is on public relations (PR) and social media to increase awareness of delicious Australian papaya, along with consumer sampling to encourage consumers to try and buy the fruit.

Online community partnership

In June, Australian Papaya partnered with a leading parenting site, Mum Central to create an in-depth feature story on papayas which was published on their website and Facebook page. To achieve this, the Mum Central team enjoyed a unique farm experience learning about Australian papayas. The website article generated over 2,000 views and Facebook posts reached over 35,000 people. A survey among Mum Central members indicated that while 42% had never tried papaya before, 98% of those people would now try it after reading the website article.

Parenting expos

Engaging with parents and young families was a focus with Australian Papaya present at the Brisbane Pregnancy, Babies and Children’s Expo in June. Over the three days, 4,000 papaya samples and 8,000 brochures were distributed with extremely positive feedback from families upon learning of papaya health benefits and ways to incorporate it into their meals. Australian Papaya were also at the Sydney Essential Baby and Toddler show in September which attracted over 18,000 attendees. During the weekend over 5,000 papaya samples and 10,000 brochures were distributed.

Social media

The ‘always on’ approach to social media ensures that inspiring, relevant content is shared continuously on the Australian Papaya Facebook page which has now over 26,000 Facebook fans. For FY2018, the Facebook page reached over 770,000 people with content and moving into FY2019 over 300,000 have already viewed posts featuring Australian Papayas.

Results have shown that Australian Papaya fans are highly engaged, tracking at an 8% engagement rate (vs. 5% target) and are very interested in health facts and general tips & tricks on how to eat papaya. Grower content also garners high engagement on the page. We continue to encourage our growers to submit content that can be featured on the Papaya social channel, in accordance with social media guidelines.

PR activity

By the end of July, almost 20 million consumers were reached via PR coverage during the financial year. Papaya content featured across top tier print and online publications such as Woman’s Day, Body+Soul and BW magazine.

A media event was held in October in line with the spring peak for Australian Papayas. The aim of the event was to drive awareness, interest and conversation about papayas, ultimately creating increased media coverage into FY2019. The event was designed to be an interactive tasting experience among key media and influencers to promote trial, education, and understanding of papayas, with Australian Papaya growers and dietitian Caitlin Read as guest speakers. There were over 10 top tier media and influencers in attendance.

Media outreach has already generated over 7.2 million reach opportunities since July, bolstered particularly by the recent Australian Papaya media event.