Marketing snapshot - 2019/20

Hort Innovation is responsible for investing the chestnut marketing levy into a range of activities to drive awareness and consumption, under the Hort Innovation Chestnut Fund. Here’s a quick look at some of the activities and achievements of 2019/20, for both the domestic and export marketing campaigns.

Social media

With many families in isolation due to COVID-19, consumers turned to cooking to provide entertainment, making the most of the opportunity to experiment with different foods they perhaps would not have the time or inclination to try otherwise. The chestnut marketing program acted swiftly to make the most of this opportunity, creating a dedicated social media campaign across Instagram (@chestnutsaustralia) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/australianchestnuts), encouraging families to ‘give Aussie chestnuts a go!'.

Ten family-oriented influencers agreed to be involved in the campaign and were posted a 2.5kg pack of chestnuts, a printed apron, specialty cutting knife, and a collection of recipe brochures and nutritional information. The influencers took up the challenge, posting mouth-watering content such as chestnut-focused social stories, photos, and recipes, engaging with over 70,000 combined followers. The campaign was also supported with selected hashtags to promote chestnuts during this period.

The Chestnuts Australia Instagram account was updated with one to two photos with captions each week during the season. A new feature to the program this year was the introduction of Instagram stories which were followed regularly, with over 60 people per day viewing the content. The page now has 1,092 followers, up from 789 followers at the end of last financial year. Content is resonating with followers, with the posts regularly receiving 40 to 90+ engagements.

Two videos were produced this year and leveraged across Instagram. These videos demonstrated just how easy it is to prepare, cook and incorporate chestnuts into everyday meals, such as a delicious chestnut, pumpkin and pancetta soup.

Public relations

The campaign used new and existing content created by Emma Bickley from Photo Before We Eat, to distribute to five retailer newsletters and green grocers to provide useful information such as seasonal information, in-store tips and chestnut promotional posters for use in-store. The program was also complemented by media releases during the season, to encourage incremental chestnut opportunities within digital and traditional media.

Point of sale

Point-of-sale recipe brochures were a key component of the marketing program in 2019/20 to inspire and educate consumers on how they can cook with chestnuts. There were two brochures (one reprinted and one new) in the series, themed ‘making everyday meals special with chestnuts’. These were sent out at the start of the season with 100,000 distributed through the major wholesale markets and to growers across Australia. The industry also distributed 3,000 brochures on request from growers, additional wholesalers and retail outlets.