Hort Innovation’s sweetpotato marketing strategy aims to grow consumer demand in the domestic market.  Sweetpotato marketing investments will focus on restoring relevance and encouraging more frequent purchase by showing how the vegetable can make familiar meals tastier, more nutritious and more interesting for sustained category growth.

Consumer insights informing the strategy

Sweetpotatoes are valued for their taste, health credentials and versatility, but they are no longer top of mind for many shoppers. Household penetration declined from 71 per cent to 59 per cent over the five years to December 2025, and only 8 per cent of consumers named sweetpotatoes as a vegetable they intended to buy in the next seven days. 

Recent volume growth has been experienced among families with babies and teenagers and established couples households. Purchase is highly planned and centred on dinner, while 31 per cent of recent buyers say sweetpotatoes are not usually on their shopping list.  

The growth opportunity is to rebuild salience, make sweetpotatoes easier to notice and choose in store, and provide simple, contemporary meal ideas with broad appeal that reinforce their value for budget-conscious households and young families.

What's planned

The endorsed campaigns will connect broad food inspiration with refreshed recipe assets and retail activation, giving consumers practical reasons to add sweetpotatoes to their shopping list and their everyday meals.

Key activities include:

• Everyday Gourmet partnership on Network 10, featuring sweetpotatoes in at least six recipes, including three tailored feature recipes supported by key brand and nutrition messages. Content will extend across broadcast television, the Everyday Gourmet website, YouTube and Facebook, with video and high-resolution imagery available for future sweetpotato marketing use.
• Contemporary recipe development, refreshing the category's ageing recipe library with 10 fully tested recipes and professional imagery. The recipes will focus on budget-friendly family meals, led by dinner, with a mix of lunch, dessert, side and salad occasions and inspiration across a range of cuisines.
• A bold retail-led marketing campaign designed to rebuild buyer participation and category growth. The campaign will be developed with retailer and supply-chain engagement at its core. The investment includes decision safeguards linked to retailer support and technical and commercial viability, allowing the activity to be refined before in-market activation.

Supporting investments

A range of investments are underway to deliver the sweetpotato marketing strategy:

• Sweetpotato storage and distribution (PW21500)
• Sweetpotato Marketing Maintenance Expenses (PW22500)
• Sweetpotato Marketing Program FY26 (PW25501)
• Sweetpotato Marketing Media & Recipe Content 2026 (PW25502)