Marketing snapshot - Hortlink 2018, edition 1

This Hort Innovation Avocado Fund marketing snapshot has been taken from Hort Innovation’s Hortlink 2018, edition 1.

Hort Innovation is responsible for investing the avocado marketing levy into a range of activities to grow awareness and consumption, under the Hort Innovation Avocado Fund. Here’s a look at some of the most recent activity…

Digital video campaign

As described in the last Hortlink, a three-month digital campaign was live at the tail end of 2017, concluding in mid-December. To keep avocados top of mind for consumers, it involved showcasing the industry’s four ‘Perfect Match’ videos (seen here) across catch-up TV sites such as tenplay, 9NOW and PLUS7, and on websites such as taste.com.au, mamamia.com and health.com – with a target audience of grocery buyers aged between 25 and 49. There was also activity on YouTube, with the videos shown as ads ahead of targeted food, recipe and cooking content.

Results are now in. The goal of the campaign was to reach more than 1.7 million people, and this was well exceeded, with the ads delivering more than three million ‘impressions’ (a single impression is counted when an ad is displayed to someone). The ads also had a high ‘completion rate’, which is the percentage of people who watched the videos until the end, indicating an engagement with the content. For the Perfect Match YouTube activity the completion rate was 37 per cent, well ahead of the average completion rate of 25 per cent – showing the content was well-received.

Social media activity

With the Australian Avocados Facebook page liked by more than 190,000 consumers, social media is an important part in the marketing strategy. The Facebook page continues to share content such as avocado health facts, recipe ideas and hints and tips, while keeping avocados top of mind for consumers year-round. Each month, the content reaches over one million people in Australia.

Coming up…

At the time of writing, work was underway to develop a host of new Australian Avocados creative assets, to kick off the industry’s next three-year marketing strategy and this year’s campaign.

The new campaign will include:

• A fresh television commercial, which is currently being shot and will launch the campaign at the end of April 2018 across free-to-air TV, online catch-up TV services and subscription TV
• Cinema advertising, to complement the TV activity
• Out-of-home advertising, with options such as digital screens in shopping centres currently being explored
• Social media, with a refresh of the Facebook page
• A refresh in the styling of the industry’s consumer-facing website
• Digital advertising.

Among its goals, the campaign will aim to…

• Generate a stronger top-of-mind presence, particular in shopping situations
• Inspire greater versatility in the use of avocados in meals and meal occasions, through establishing the idea that avocados can make any meal better
• Reposition avocados from a ‘luxury’ to a regular, everyday part of a healthy lifestyle
• Emphasise nutritional benefits, and reduce perceptions of ‘bad fats’
• Create greater confidence in selecting the right avocados in-store and ripening them at home.