Hort Innovation is responsible for investing the papaya marketing levy into a range of activities to drive awareness and consideration. Here is a quick look at what happened during 2023/24… 

The objective of the 2023/24 papaya marketing program was to motivate consumers to try papaya by educating them on how to eat, prepare, and choose the fruit. This was achieved through a multi-faceted approach, focusing on health benefits, media engagement, and social media presence. 

Insights that drove our thinking 

• Increasing papaya awareness is essential, with awareness at 0.6%. Papayas are only purchased by 12.6 per cent of households, while this is up from last year, it is lower than it has been in the past.
  
   
• Opportunity to drive an emotional connection. Once consumers have tried papaya, 12 per cent love to eat it, 56 per cent are satisfied and 35 per cent believe it’s worth what you pay.   

What the campaign looked like in market and what did we achieve 

Nutrition review + media event 

Dietitian Caitlin Reid updated the ‘Papaya Australia Nutrition Review’, last revised in 2019. The updated findings emphasised immunity, skin health, gut health, and the unique benefits of papaya seeds. The new review was presented at a dedicated event for top-tier media, influencers, and dietitians. This event generated significant social buzz with 1.6 million social opportunities to see the campaign. 

Media coverage 

The campaign leveraged the latest health report, recipes, content assets, and grower resources to secure high-profile media coverage. The campaign achieved 4.9 million opportunities to see on top of the nutrition review media events success. Key highlights included features in Mouths of Mums, Australian Women’s Weekly Cooking, Better Homes & Gardens, Woman’s Day, and New Idea. 

Cyclone Jasper pro bono support 

In December 2023, reactive media and influencer relations were conducted following the devastation of Cyclone Jasper in far north Queensland. This effort resulted in social coverage from key influencers, delivering a total of 852,666 opportunities to see papaya in media. 

Social media 

The papaya marketing campaign followed an ‘always-on’ social media advertising strategy to increase consumer awareness of papaya’s unique benefits through educational and inspirational content. Content was distributed across Facebook and Instagram, featuring a mix of video and image posts under three key pillars: education and inspiration (60 per cent), nourish and nurture (40 per cent), and proudly local (20 per cent). The campaign delivered 3.9 million impressions.