Marketing spotlight 2021/22

Hort Innovation is responsible for investing the apple and pear marketing levy into a range of activities to drive awareness and consideration. Here’s a quick look at some of the activities and achievements in 2021/22.

Australian apples

In 2021/22, Australian Apples launched the ‘Hit Refresh’ campaign to reconnect Australians with apples. The campaign focused on clear and distinct messaging that apples are a healthy snack that makes you feel refreshed and revitalised. A post-campaign brand health study found that it prompted a 69 per cent recall for those that have seen the ad, who described apples as “refreshing and revitalising”, and 60 per cent found it “enjoyable.”

In 2021/22, the campaign targeted ‘light’ and ‘lapsed’ consumers through content that highlights the sensory experience of eating apples and reminds consumers why they love apples, evoking an association of enjoyment with the fruit.

The ‘hit refresh on your senses’ campaign creatively dramatised the refreshing experience of eating an apple. It achieved this by drawing on the insight that when you eat an apple, it’s a sensory overload – the taste, sound, and feeling awaken all the senses.

Out-of-home advertising and social media launched the campaign in June 2022 across the entire path to purchase. A new radio advertisement was created to represent the enjoyment of apples with sound, featuring high-definition sounds stimulating the listeners’ taste buds and creating a desire to consume apples.

Highlights of the campaign include:

• Retail out-of-home advertising: Out-of-home advertising used shopping centre panels to keep apples top of mind as people shopped. Both static and digital advertising featured a range of apples to visually highlight all the benefits of apples.
• Radio advertising: To extend the campaign’s reach and messaging frequency, Australian Apples ran two 30-second advertisements and one 15-second advertisement across a national broadcast and Spotify streaming platform. The advertisements were tactfully scheduled to reach consumers throughout the day during primary snacking times.
• Social media: Australian Apples ran static and video social content across Facebook and Instagram to build cost-effective reach and awareness with two key audiences, ‘Young Healthy Snackers’ and ‘Family Healthy Snackers.’
• Retailer and shopper: To remind shoppers to include apples in their everyday shopping baskets, a series of advertisements was run across in-store and online touchpoints across Woolworths (front of store screens, digital and online display) and Coles (full-page advertisement in Coles Magazine, online search terms). This activity delivered a one million reach across Coles and 4.2 million impressions across Cartology media channels. To compete against other snacking options in store, the shopper campaign will highlight snacking cues and align with the sensorial hooks of the master brand campaign. It will be applied across apple varietals to demonstrate the different sensory benefits each apple varietal brings. The ‘snack on a range for your senses’ shopper-focused message aims to drive interest and trials of different apples available in store.

In 2021/22 the Hort Innovation Marketing function underwent a significant shift in their approach to investing marketing levies. You can read more about this in the 2021/22 Hort Innovation Company Annual Report at www.horticulture.com.au/annual-report-portal.

Australian pears

In 2021/22, the marketing activities for Australian Pears aimed to increase consumer demand for the fruit by changing consumer attitudes to have them viewed as a staple snack item.

The campaign positioned pears as a healthy, tasty snack that’s surprisingly good for you. It was supported across digital channels, social media, outdoor advertising, online video, public relations, and retail media across June and July 2022.   

Brand tracking results in October 2021 showed that the existing ‘good things come in pears’ campaign increased consumers’ perception that pears are healthy (from 72 per cent to 80 per cent.) After seeing the campaign, one in two consumers were more likely to purchase pears In the 2022 season, Australian Pears continued to use this marketing campaign due to its initial success. It ran across:

• Retail out-of-home advertising: Both static and animated advertisements ran across out-of-home advertising in shopping centre panels to keep pears in mind as consumers enter stores.
• Broadcast video on demand (BVOD) and online video: Two 15-second non-skippable advertisements ran on broadcast video demand and YouTube.
• Social media: Both static and video social content across Facebook build cost-effective reach and awareness. Messaging highlighted the key health benefits of fibre and good gut nutrients.
• Shopper: To be present at shopping moments and remind shoppers to include pears in their everyday shopping baskets, a series of advertisements ran across Woolworth’s shopper touchpoints. This included front-of-store screens, retail magazines, digital displays and online retailer websites and delivered a 3.8 million reach. Throughout the shopper campaign, a strong call to action to ‘pick a pear today’ was communicated, and content also addressed other key barriers, such as how to choose and ripen a pear for the best tasting experience, which was accompanied by messaging around ‘how to care for your pears’.

In 2021, the ‘pick a pear’ Metcash display incentive had driven an increase in conversion rates and an uplift in wholesale volume (an increase of 3.6 per cent compared to the previous year). However, due to market challenges such as COVID-19 impacts, there was minimal uplift in retail sales. In 2022, the shopper campaign was optimised to entice and motivate light buyers to purchase pears.

A consumer cash promotion encouraged shoppers to purchase pears for their chance to win. The shopper promotion ‘good things come in pears at IGA’ ran with Metcash exclusively from the end of August to September 2022. In IGA stores, an in-store display incentive encourages staff to use provided point-of-sale campaign kits (posters, shelf strips, recipe tear pads and ‘ripening’ paper bags) to build disruptive displays. 

Export campaign for apples and pears

In 2021/22, the Taste Australian marketing campaign promoted apples and pears in key export markets: Indonesia and Thailand.

The primary goal throughout the campaign was to build consumers’ product knowledge and clearly differentiate Australian apples and pears.

The campaign consisted of three tactical pillars: retailer engagement, influencer engagement and social media management. The integrated approach included working with retailers on e-commerce, in-store displays and ‘gift-with-purchase’ promotions. During the season, supply-chain disruptions and COVID-19 restrictions impacted campaign delivery, which caused a reduction in activities.

Thailand

The campaign in Thailand was the most expansive of the two markets and was the least impacted by the rapidly changing landscape associated with the pandemic. The campaign commenced later than planned due to a rise in COVID-19 cases that affected in-store purchases. As a result, activities were pivoted to focus more on online channels, directing customers to engage and purchase online while products were in-market.

Indonesia

Indonesia is Asia’s largest pear import market, with over 216,000 tonnes imported in 2020, a 29 per cent growth from 2019. Subsequently, it is an important market for Taste Australia to increase its presence. The pears campaign in Indonesia was an integrated campaign including both online and offline activities. Unfortunately, the market was heavily impacted by supply chain issues, resulting in only two containers of produce being delivered compared to 15 in Thailand. As a result, the campaign scope was changed, focusing on retail promotions to support produce in-store and social media.

In addition to the Taste Australia Apples and Pears campaign, three co-promotion campaigns were delivered by industry partners to support the UK and Thailand markets for apples, as well as the New Zealand, Singapore, and Indonesian markets for pears.