Marketing snapshot - October 2018

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

Export Marketing

As noted in the previous update, consumer research project Citrus fruit export China and Japan (CT17005) began in September. The information collected in this deep dive will build on the snapshots of China and Japan produced by stage 1 of the project Consumer research in key export markets for the citrus industry (CT17005). The aim of this two-staged project is to provide an understanding of consumer preferences, purchasing drivers, barriers and influences, usage behaviour, life stage/demographic profiles and media consumption.

Taste Australia

Citrus campaigns were conducted in four markets; China, Japan, Vietnam and Philippines. This consisted of three elements; a retail campaign, a social campaign and content development such as a consumer fact sheet, media releases and social media for all markets. The social media campaign through Facebook was supported by paid advertisements and boosting of posts. At the time of writing, the results from the final reports of all markets were being collated and will be available in the next update.

China

• Retail promotions were conducted in HEMA, Ole and City Super across Shanghai and Hangzhou throughout August and September with a total of 210 sampling sessions. City Super extended their instore sampling by two weeks due to strong demand. All retailers reported that sampling drove immediate and repeat sales.
  
  
• An E-commerce campaign via Fruitday and Hema websites took place in September. This consisted of online banner advertisements which allowed for segmenting content based on consumer preferences and geographical engagement. Moving forward, more investment into push messaging will be undertaken via WeChat with a focus on consumer education for next season.

Japan

• Sampling was organised via four key importers; Kobo Yoko, Royal, Hiro International and Wismettac. A total of 76 sampling sessions were conducted in several locations across Japan – Tokyo, Osaka, Okinawa, Wakayama, Nara, Chiba and Kanagawa.

Vietnam

• Retail promotions were conducted in Mega Market, Aeon Mall and Klever Fruit with Big C conducting their own sampling with the support of Taste Australia POSM. A total of 96 sampling session were held throughout major cities in Vietnam over a four-week period.
  
  
• Small giveaways such as tote-bags instore provided another incentive at the point of purchase.
  
  
• The Facebook campaign was supported by new content and mini games which encouraged followers to like and share posts to be in with a chance at winning prizes.

Philippines

• Retail promotions were conducted in Rustans and Shopwise throughout major cities across the country with a total of 90 sampling days.
  
  
• In-store merchandising and product placement was used to improve awareness amongst competitive products.
  
  
• The Facebook campaign was a huge success with each a mixture of recipe suggestions, facts and farm shots being posted reaching as many as 9,000 followers.
  
  
• Media seeding activities was successful for creating user-generated content to increase followers of the campaign overall.