Marketing spotlight 2021/22

Inspiring consumers to eat more macadamias

Hort Innovation invests the macadamia marketing levy into a range of activities to drive awareness and consideration under the Hort Innovation Macadamia Fund. These activities are managed by Hort Innovation’s partner team at the Australian Macadamia Society. Here’s a quick look at some of the activities and achievements in 2021/22.

In 2021/22, the Australian Macadamias marketing campaign targeted domestic and international consumers using a mix of channels including social media, public relations, influencers, email marketing, content production, competitions and websites.

The Australian Macadamia Society manages a range of marketing levy-funded projects that work together to drive awareness and consideration of Australian macadamias at home and overseas. These projects include:

• Australian Macadamias marketing manager (MC18507)
• Macadamia program coordinator (MC19505)
• Macadamia consumer campaign for Australia (MC19502)
• Macadamia consumer campaign for China and Taiwan (MC19503)
• Macadamia consumer campaign for Japan and Korea (MC19504)
• Macadamia trade content development (MC19506)
• Australian Macadamias trade public relations (MC19507)
• Macadamia consumer research 2020-2022(MC19508)
• International insights data (MC20502)
• Australian Macadamias brand positioning and innovation platforms (MC21506)

Social media

On the Australian Macadamia’s LinkedIn, organic content is supported by a paid campaign that targets decision makers in the global food and beverage industry. The Australian Macadamia’s LinkedIn audience grew roughly 50 per cent from June 2021 to June 2022. The average monthly page views increased by seven per cent, average monthly unique visitors were up by 17 per cent and the average post impressions grew by 123 per cent.

The primary content that is shared with trade audiences includes production innovation news, health information, promotion updates, crop forecasts, and market reports which are shared with the growing audience across two social media platforms.

The second primary social media platform to share content with trade audiences is WeChat. This platform is the primary channel to communicate with trade audiences in China. Audience size, page views and engagement rates increased over the course of the year. There was a 34 per cent increase in followers and a 93 per cent increase in page views.

The international consumer audience on social media has been successfully grown through sharing content such as recipes, videos, grower stories, health facts, orchard, and growing information. Examples of channels include:

• Facebook in Australia, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea with a combined following of more than 200,000.
• Twitter in Japan and Australia, with a combined following of more than 11,000.
• Instagram in Japan, South Korea, and Australia, with a combined following of more than 19,000.
• Weibo and WeChat in China, with a following of more than 89,000.
• YouTube in Australia and Japan with more than 950 subscribers and more than 22,000 video views.
• Pinterest was a new channel added in 2021/22 in Australia, achieving some 3,400 monthly views.

Public Relations

In 2021/22, international campaigns leveraged consumer research findings and the opportunities presented for macadamias in the global innovation space. Three campaigns were executed throughout Australia, Japan, China, Taiwan, South Korea, and the USA. Collectively these campaigns generated over 1,100 pieces of media coverage, generating over 4.93 billion opportunities to see the macadamia-inspired content. The three campaigns (based on research findings) were:

• Moments of small pleasure beat big experiences when it comes to wellbeing. The campaign’s spokesperson was accredited practicing dietician Susie Burrell. It highlighted the importance of nutritious food like macadamias in managing mood and stress during the pandemic.
• Macadamias are the gift worth giving this holiday season. This campaign successfully leveraged the finding that most consumers consider macadamias to be gift worthy. Furthermore, it highlighted that 57 per cent of consumers associated macadamias with luxury and indulgence, while 61 per cent of consumers perceived them to be a premium good.
• Macadamias flip the script on fat. This campaign addressed the consumer demand to seek ingredients that are healthy for their heart and can keep them fuller for longer. The high-fat content of macadamias is one of the nuts greatest strengths.

Consumer-focused public relations campaigns were also executed in Australia, Japan and Taiwan during 2021/22. Highlights included:

• In Australia, more than 58 million opportunities to see macadamia-inspired content through establishing a Stone & Wood ‘Malty Mac’ macadamia beer collaboration and holding a press office campaign to communicate key messages through media and influencer content.
• In Japan, more than 138 million opportunities to see macadamia-inspired content through a brand collaboration and giveaway campaign with Nisshin OilliO (culinary macadamia oil) and working with influencer Rina Ishii, which included an Instagram recipe showcase and public relations live stream to amplify the Nisshin OilliO campaign. A public relations events was also held which involved a live stream with a nutritionist and brand ambassador – 60 journalists were invited to a watch and attend a post-event press release.
• In Taiwan, more than four million opportunities to see macadamia-inspired content through an ET Today news sites collaboration to leverage the site’s reach in conjunction with Australian Macadamia’s channels. A lottery on population Taiwanese social app LINE was also used.

Influencer marketing

Influencer collaborations were used in Australia, China and Korea as an effective way of reaching consumers. Highlights included:

• In Australia, Casey Lee from ‘Live Love Nourish’ created new macadamia recipes including air-fried ‘Honey Roasted Macadamias’ and ‘Macadamia Hot Cross Cookies’. A media sponsorship of Left off the map, a Network 10 TV show that featured MasterChef contestant Ben Milbourne, also delivered five new macadamia recipes and a tips segment.
• In China, three Weibo influencers promoted an interactive online ‘Build your own Australian macadamias’ game generating nearly six million views. For Chinese New Year, two nutrition influencers amplified macadamia health messaging on popular Chinese Q&A platform ZhiHu, achieving more than seven million views.
• In Korea, six Instagram influencers were used to ‘take over’ the Australian Macadamias Korean Instagram feed throughout the year and 13 influencers were invited to participate in a macadamia Masterclass cooking event with a well-known chef to create and post content, reaching almost one million people.

Email marketing

The Macadamia Review is published every three to four weeks and continues to inform its international trade audience about the industry’s marketing news and insights. Published in English, German, and Japanese since its inception in 2014, in the July 2021 publication a South Korean version also commenced. The emails are now sent to a collective global trade audience of more than 2,700 subscribers.

A monthly consumer e-newsletter is also sent to a database of some 28,000 Australian subscribers, which includes recipes, e-books and competitions.

Content creation

Trade news content covered a range of topics, such as product innovation, consumer insights, promotion highlights, health news, crop forecasts, and market reports. These stories ensured trade was kept up to date with critical news and data. Furthermore, it develops the story that macadamias are a sought-after ingredient, suited to a broad range of manufactured food and beverages.

Highlights in 2021/22 period included:

• TV chef celebrates macadamias in new season of food tourism show.
• Macadamia marketing heats up in China.
• Unpacking what food and health mean to today’s macadamia consumer.

The content is published on the Australian Macadamias trade website and was amplified through the trade EDM, WeChat, LinkedIn, trade public relations campaigns and selected industry publications. Blog posts were published on the Australian, Chinese and Japanese Australian Macadamias consumer websites and shared across social media.

A recipe collection, with 24 new recipes globally that included ‘Macadamia Marzipan Easter Eggs’, ‘Macadamia Coconut Ice’ and ‘Roasted Nori and Sesame Macadamia.’ In Korea, there were 36 recipes created specifically for the Korean market, including ‘Macadamia Breakfast Soup’, ‘Black Rice and Macadamia Nutrition Bar’ and ‘Macadamia Crunchy Strawberry Cheesecake.’

Four new videos were added to the ‘Macadamia Change Makers’ campaign that commenced in 2021 and were translated for international markets.

In 2021/22 the Hort Innovation Marketing function underwent a significant shift in their approach to investing marketing levies. You can read more about this in the 2021/22 Hort Innovation Company Annual Report at www.horticulture.com.au/annual‑report‑portal.