Marketing snapshot - Hortlink 2018, edition 1

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

Hort Innovation is responsible for investing the banana marketing levy into a range of activities to grow awareness and consumption, under the Hort Innovation Banana Fund.

Traditionally the Australian Bananas marketing campaign doesn’t involve a large amount of above-the-line advertising over summer, but during this time bananas are kept top of mind with consumers through public relations (PR), events, social media and more. Here are some highlights…

PR activity

Over summer there was ongoing outreach to consumer food, lifestyle and health media, encouraging use of six new banana recipes and their associated imagery (check them out at www.australianbananas.com.au/recipes). This follows from activity last year, where a different six recipes were pitched to food and health titles.

Since July 2017, there has been 95 pieces of coverage across print, online and social media – reaching some 11.38 million people for the traditional channels, and 1.23 million people in social media channels.

Ambassadors promoting bananas

Australian Bananas ambassadors Billy Slater and Susie Burrell have continued to support and raise awareness about Aussie bananas and their benefits and uses. Dietitian Susie writes a blog post each month (see an example here), while rugby league star Billy also posts monthly about bananas to his Facebook and Instagram accounts. His posts continue to receive plenty of engagement, with his January post receiving close to 7000 ‘likes’ on Instagram alone.

Bananas in Bounty Bags

The Australian Bananas Bounty Bag campaign continued into February. In December and January alone, 31,510 banana cases were handed out to new mums as part of the Bounty Bags distributed in hospitals. This activity has continued to promote bananas as a good ‘one-handed energy snack’ for breastfeeding mums, as well as a great first food for babies.

Events and merchandise

Australian Bananas has continued to support the community in growing regions by sponsoring events and supplying merchandise. An example of this is the Australian Bananas T-shirts supplied to the Quality Produce and Sweeter Banana Co-op indoor volleyball team, the Banana Squatters, with all players involved in the banana industry. Merchandise has also been provided for a number of upcoming events, including the Coffs Harbour Show and the Innisfail Show.

Social media activity

The Australian Bananas Facebook page continues to post content that resonates with the consumer target audience, regularly reaching over 1.2 million people each month. In December 2017 grower content was shared, including a spotlight on Ethan and Zak McKeever talking about resilience in the face of adversity. Australian Banana fans love connecting with growers, and the post reached some 356,000 people, with more than 276,000 post engagements.

Coming up…

Consumer research has been conducted into the barriers and motivations to purchase Lady Finger bananas, and a marketing campaign was developed around this. Kicking off in March, it will include in-store sampling and social media posts. Look for more in industry channels and in the next Hortlink.

At the time of writing, the next burst of media advertising was set to begin – launching in mid-March on TV (national metro, regional and subscription), with out-of-home advertising in shopping centre panels, across buses, and in gyms and cinema. There will also be digital activity, while point-of-sale kits have been distributed to coincide with this media activity.