Marketing snapshot - Hortlink 2017, edition 2

This Hort Innovation Avocado Fund marketing snapshot has been taken from Hort Innovation’s Hortlink 2017, edition 2.

Keeping Australian Avocados accessible to consumers 24/7 with an ‘always on’ approach, Hort Innovation’s marketing for the industry largely has a focus on digital and social media activities.

Social media and website

Regular social activity on the Australian Avocados Facebook (www.facebook.com/AustralianAvocados) and Instagram (@AustralianAvocados) accounts continues to generate discussion, engagement and inspiration around avocados. Fun facts, recipe ideas, tips, videos and beautiful imagery all help drive interest and, ultimately, consumption.

The Australian Avocados consumer website (www.australianavocados.com.au) also continues to feature recipe collections, how-to tips, health and nutrition advice and more.

Digital advertising

Running since March, the digital marketing and advertising campaign for Australian Avocados reaches consumers across the web, through desktop computers, mobile phones and tablets.

One of the campaign’s key elements involves 15-second and 30-second Australian Avocados video advertisements, which are run before and within streaming video content on premium ‘catch-up’ sites such as 9Now, Ten Play and Plus 7. These sites allow people to view programs they have missed on television, and are free to watch.

So far the videos are delivering strong results, with 98 per cent of people watching the 15-second ad through to the end, and 90 per cent of viewers receiving the full message of the 30-second ad – ‘completion rates’ that are above industry benchmarks. It is expected these great results will continue, as popular television shows such as The Voice and MasterChef now driving highly engaged audiences to the catch-up services.

Other digital activity includes the use of Australian Avocado ads, which are specifically targeted to people who are viewing or searching avocado-specific and avocado-related content online (eg: ‘healthy lunch ideas’). The ads drive people to the Australian Avocado website, to view avocado recipes, tips and articles.

Combined, this digital activity has so far been viewed by 1,743,000 people since the campaign began.

Buzzfeed activity

Buzzfeed is a popular online media site and in April a partnership with Australian Avocados was launched. Two articles on avocados have been posted, including:

• 18 delicious ways to use avocado… that don’t involve smashing it on toast, with a range of innovative and delicious sweet and savoury recipes, such as avocado brownies with avocado ice-cream, and warm Moroccan avocado and vegetable salad.
• The ultimate how-to guide for avocado lovers, providing a fun, illustrated guide to choosing, using and storing the fruit.

In their initial couple of weeks, the articles had already been viewed over 79,000 times, with over 4500 of these views the results of consumers sharing the content in their own personal social media channels.

The Sydney Royal Easter Show

Running from April 6 to 19, this year’s Sydney Royal Easter Show was attended by over 922,000 people – giving Australian Avocados a huge audience for its advertising at the event. This activity involved a combination of television commercial and static ads shown on the big screen in the main stadium (pictured below), banner boards in the stadium, and ads on 52 plasma screens around the show grounds.

On the big screen alone, 55 spots played the Australian Avocados television commercial over the duration of the show (with 27 of these spots being ‘bonus’ above what was paid for), as well as 336 static spots. Another 378 spots were on the banner boards in the main stadium, with 55 spots on the plasma screens – all well above what was contracted.