Marketing snapshot - 2020/21

Hort Innovation is responsible for investing the papaya marketing levy into a range of activities to drive awareness and consumption of the fruit, under the Hort Innovation Papaya Fund. Read on for a snapshot of activities and results from the 2020/21 marketing program.

The objective of the 2020/21 marketing program was to improve awareness and increase the number of households who purchase Australian papaya. Under the positioning of ‘tropical goodness’, the program leveraged educational content and simple usage ideas, to communicate the taste, versatility, and health benefits of papaya.

Health Report and Content Creation 

Accredited Practising Dietitian Caitlin Reid was engaged to update the 2018 Papaya Health Report and identify compelling health messages for use across the papaya marketing program. The report confirms papaya’s myriad of health benefits, and this information was used to inspire and encourage Australians to include papaya in their diet.

Working with Caitlin Reid, the team undertook media interviews and provided quotes in media materials to highlight Australian papaya’s health portfolio. Caitlin also created two dietitian-approved recipes which were amplified through social media and earned public relations media. The recipes were for an immune-boosting papaya and chicken salad, and a mood-boosting papaya and lime cake.

Public relations

Three bursts of media outreach were conducted, promoting the updated health report and coinciding with the summer and winter flush. Coverage was secured in several top-tier media titles such as the Sunday Telegraph, Woman’s Day, Westfield, MiNDFOOD, Woolworths, Australian Women’s Weekly and Healthy Food Guide.

The public relations campaign was successful, with 47 pieces of coverage across traditional and social media resulting in over 9.7 million opportunities for consumers to see the papaya-inspired content.

Social media

The Papaya Australia Facebook page (www.facebook.com/papayaaustralia) and Instagram (@papayaaustralia) were used to increase awareness and household penetration of Australian papaya amongst the target audience. The content was centred around educating and reminding consumers about papayas, demonstrating the varietal differences and nutritional profile of the fruit.

Posts occurred twice a week and were focused on three key content pillars; ‘Eat me’, ‘Love me’ and ‘Know me’. Facebook advertising was used to boost performance on all posts to extend the reach and engagement.

Overall, the social media campaign generated over 4.4 million opportunities to see the content across Facebook and Instagram. More than 128,600 engagements (such as likes, comments and shares) occurred, demonstrating that the key messages are resonating well with the target audience of Independent Singles aged 35+ years of age with no kids.