Marketing snapshot - Hortlink 2016, winter

This Hort Innovation Custard Apple Fund marketing snapshot has been taken from Hort Innovation’s Hortlink 2016, winter edition.

The overarching project objectives were to raise awareness and increase appeal of custard apples by encouraging fresh consumption, as opposed to driving recipes. Educating main grocery buyers to help overcome current barriers to purchase and lack of understanding about the fruit, and focusing on reaching mainstream and social media to educate consumers, was a main focus.

Media briefings

Five media targets attended briefings (WHO, News Local, That’s Life, The Carousel and New Idea), with grower Patti Stacey participating in media interviews.

Four out of the five media from the briefings have now featured custard apples, resulting in an 80 per cent achievement. Custard apples were also featured in seven metropolitan magazines, 24 regionals, 15 radio programs, 18 online/social media posts and 10 television appearances. Over eight million people were reached.

Social influencer program

Eight key social influencers were engaged from across a range of industries including food, parenting, health and lifestyle with all bloggers briefed on the campaign messaging. A custard apple hamper was provided to prompt instant social sharing, with influencers encouraged to try the custard apples and share the experience socially, using styled imagery.

Social media campaign

The focus for social media has been to drive reach through advertising to achieve growth of the Facebook page, which now stands at 4306 fans. This method ensured the campaign message was amplified and consistent.

A content calendar was developed, posting twice weekly to share key messages in an engaging way and help drive consumers in-store. In total there were 25 Facebook posts with 160,000+ people reached and an average engagement per post of seven per cent. The average engagement is higher than the benchmarked five per cent.