Marketing snapshot - Hortlink 2017, edition 3

This Hort Innovation Macadamia Fund marketing snapshot has been taken from Hort Innovation’s Hortlink 2017, edition 3.

Hort Innovation invests the macadamia marketing levy into a range of activities to drive awareness and consumption, under the Hort Innovation Macadamia Fund. This activity is managed by our partner team at the Australian Macadamia Society.

Since the last edition of Hortlink, the marketing program has continued to deliver an exciting mix of consumer campaigns, fresh consumer insights and engaging trade campaign activity. A snapshot of highlights for the program under each campaign category can be found below.

CONSUMER CAMPAIGNS

New natural beauty video launch in China

• A video showcasing the natural beauty benefits of macadamias, overlaid with the growing and harvesting story, was launched in China in June.
• The video was filmed at a macadamia farm in the Northern Rivers and featured a prominent Chinese parenting and lifestyle influencer, and her five-year-old daughter.
• The video was promoted to health-conscious Chinese mothers on China’s leading parenting platform, BabyTree, and Chinese social media channels.
• The results were outstanding, with the video achieving almost 500,000 impressions. All campaign targets were met, and many exceeded by up to 360 per cent.
• For more details and to view the video, head here.

Baby ‘Macadamia’ wins millions of hearts

• The first baby koala joey of the season born at Australia Zoo has been named ‘Macadamia’.
• Securing the naming rights to one of Australia’s iconic native animals was a perfect fit for our iconic Aussie nut.
• The little koala’s debut was covered extensively on social and mainstream media, reaching more than 9.5 million people.
• See more here.

Vogue Picnic collaboration in Taiwan

• A strategic collaboration with the Taiwan Vogue Picnic event enabled Australian Macadamias to tap into the picnic and outdoor entertaining trend that is very popular in Taiwan right now.
• It exposed lifestyle-conscious Taiwanese consumers to macadamia messaging, positioning Australian-grown macadamias as a natural part of a fun and healthy everyday lifestyle.
• Exposure at the event and on social media reached 965,000 consumers.
• See more here.

Macadamia ‘pop-up’ events in Korea

• Pop-up events in three locations in South Korea enabled consumers to enjoy hands-on macadamia experiences, including macadamia cracking, macadamia product trial and participation in a fun quiz to win a macadamia prize.
• The events were covered extensively on the industry’s Korean Facebook page, and in Korean media, with up to 1.8 million people viewing this content.
• For more details go here.

Macadamias galore at Noosa Food & Wine

• For the sixth consecutive year, the event was sponsored by Australia’s macadamia growers
• More than 60 kilograms of freshly harvested macadamias were supplied, which were embraced by some of Australia’s top chefs, featuring in over 20 food events throughout the festival.
• The event featured heavily on the industry’s social media channels, reaching 232,000 people in total, up 175 per cent on 2016.
• More details available here.

Macadamia TV coverage in Australia

• The Australian macadamia industry featured in two impressive segments on Australian TV recently:
• Landline explored the boom in global macadamia production and demand and how Australia’s industry continues to grow as it sets its sights on the food-manufacturing segment. View it here.
• Sydney Weekender visited the Northern Rivers, where reporter Mike Whitney stopped by the Brookfarm macadamia orchard to learn about macadamia muesli and Brookie’s Byron Dry Gin.

New consumer insights

Marketing nuts to millennials

• The Australian nut industry commissioned research to uncover the way millennials (consumers aged 18 to 35 years) perceive the nut category, and whether a strong health proposition would convince light users to consume more nuts.
• The research concluded that the message of nuts as brain food was particularly compelling for millennials.
• It identified that increasing purchase frequency among this important consumer group will require a cohesive approach across the nut industry as a whole, in addition to powerful messaging.
• Further details can be found here.

In conversation with our Facebook fans

• The Australian Macadamias global Facebook communities are alive with conversation about macadamias.
• Conversations from the industry’s Facebook pages were analysed over a six-month period in Australia, Germany, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea to examine the language and emojis most commonly used by fans.
• It revealed just how emotionally attached fans are to the Australian macadamia industry’s product and brand, and the depth of positive emotion that exists in these Facebook communities.
• For full details and to download a handy infographic summary go here.
  
  

TRADE CAMPAIGNS

Media campaign in China delivers impressive coverage

• A trade media campaign was launched to coincide with the timing of the Chinese health and beauty video described above.
• The campaign consisted of a series of interviews with Australian Macadamias CEO Jolyon Burnett, and articles covering a host of key messages designed to promote confidence in the Australian macadamia product and industry.
• This highly successful activity generated articles in more than 100 online media outlets, reaching millions of people, and uncovered significant Chinese media interest in Australia’s macadamia industry

Trade e-newsletter highlights

• Monthly trade e-newsletter, The Macadamia Review, continues to keep the trade updated on the Australian macadamia industry.
• Published globally in English, German, Chinese and Japanese, it is a vital source of industry information.
• Recent highlights have included:
• This pure Nut feature article showcasing an innovative skincare brand using macadamia oil as its hero ingredient.
• Small Tree High Productivity initiative – an interview with researcher Dr John Wilkie revealed how a range of methodologies from the apple industry are being trialled to improve the productivity of macadamia trees.
• This Barenuts feature article, providing an in-depth look at an award-winning Aussie macadamia food brand.
• To receive The Macadamia Review e-newsletter, subscribe using the gold ‘SIGN UP’ button at the bottom of this page.

Gearing up for the next three years…

With global macadamia production set to rise sharply in the coming three to five years, the marketing program will have a heavier business-to-business focus over the next three years, with the aim of getting macadamias into the innovation pipelines of major food manufacturers.

Initial work is underway, with a large consumer insights research project set to commence shortly. More details will follow as this activity unfolds.