Marketing snapshot - Hortlink 2017, edition 4

This Hort Innovation Mango Fund marketing snapshot has been taken from Hort Innovation’s Hortlink 2017, edition 4.

New campaign launch

On September 1, 2017, the 2017-18 campaign, #200DaysOfMangoes, was officially launched – signalling 200 days ahead, full of delicious golden mangoes. The campaign hashtag – designed for use on social media – will feature at every possible touchpoint across press office, social media and the Mess-tival event, prompting acknowledgement of the short mango season and the endless possibilities that mangoes bring. Every time the consumer sees a piece of content, the goal is for them to also see the hashtag, providing an instant dual-meaning key message and a trackable result.

Launch event – mango auction

The official launch of the mango season took place on October 5, with the auction of the first mango tray in Brisbane. Australian professional boxer Jeff Horn, NRL Legend Sam Thaiday and celebrity chef Matt Golinksi were in attendance as the official event ambassadors. Sam and Jeff also battled it in a mango eating competition, held in a boxing ring whilst wearing boxing gloves.

The first mango tray was sold for $29,000 to Nuccio Camuglia, owner of Fruity Capers in Toowong Village, Brisbane, who was crowned the Mango King for 2017.

Sunrise broadcasted live from the auction and Aussie Mangoes featured on Channel 7 news nationally throughout the day. Alongside the TV coverage, there was coverage within ABC News Radio nationally, Channel 10 News in Brisbane, ABC News Radio in Brisbane, Rural Weekly and 612 ABC. The mango auction even got a mention on quiz show Have You Been Paying Attention?. In total, more than 60 media hits were achieved with 32 print/online pieces, 20 TV spots and eight mentions on radio.

Mango Mess-tival

At the time of writing, the Mango Mess-tival has just taken place on December 3, 2017 at North Bondi Surf Life Saving Club. The industry’s annual showcase event, Mess-tival celebrates the peak of the mango season and help fundraise for the club.

Mango lovers and nippers alike competed in mango eating competitions, blended their own drinks on a bike-powered mango smoothie machine, watched intricate fruit flower carving alongside and queued up for barbequed mango cheeks.

Mess-tival also included a small grower contingent.

New recipes

October also saw the development of new mango recipes. Six full recipes and six recipe suggestions have been produced, with with three of each being released in November. The full recipes include:

1. Duck and Mango Noodle Salad
2. Mango Croissant Pudding
3. Mango Curd

The recipe suggestions include:

1. Mango Friands
2. Smoked Chicken and Mango Wraps
3. Smoked Salmon and Mango Blinis

In-store activity

Brand new in-store collateral and point-of-sale (POS) kits have been designed, printed and distributed through IGA and independent grocers. The ‘SLICE. DICE. DEMOLISH’ theme has been well received so far and includes front- and back-of-house posters, bunting and a varietal concertina.

Social media

The industry’s social media will continue to have an ‘always on’ approach, and the research shows that this platform plays a key part of consumers’ purchasing decisions.

New social content, delicious recipes and harvest tiles from the various regions have been incorporated through the mango social channels to date with some excellent results. Social media results through Facebook have been fantastic, with follower growth averaging 3000 people per month, with more than 827,000 people reached at an engagement rate of over 5 per cent, which is above industry standard. The costs associated with obtaining these KPI’s are well below what has been budgeted.

Late October also saw the launch of an inaugural ‘mango madness’ competition on Facebook, giving members of the community the chance to win one of five delicious mango trays by sharing what they love about mango season. More than 600 entries were received, with people publicly sharing their love and passion for mangoes.

Instagram has also seen great engagement and, more importantly, at the time of writing had over 233,00 hashtag impressions involving #200DaysOfMangoes.

Influencer activity

Influencer kits have been sent to key media and social media ‘influencers’, featuring a tray of mangoes and some mango themed goodies, to support the sharing of mango content in their channels. Results are currently being tracked and are expected to be reported in the  next edition of Hortlink.

In other influencer news, mango advocate and Instagrammer Nourish Naturally, who has some 145,000 followers, has been the first Instagram influencer to post an Instagram story based off the back of the marketing program, which is fantastic.

Other activity

The marketing program has also seen grower roadshows take place around the country including regions around Darwin, Katherine, Bowen, Ayr, Bowen, Mareeba, Gladstone and Bundaberg, which has allowed the team to highlight the upcoming seasonal marketing activities.

Grower famils have also taken place in Far North Queensland, with Broadsheet – an online media publication – visiting one grower and set to publish a report during December. Likewise, many grower interviews are currently in the process of happening, with articles expected to be published through December.

Export market activity

Heading into the peak supply of the 2017 Australian mango season, the planning of promotional programs in target export markets – New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, and Japan and the USA – was being finalised.

The programs were created in collaboration with exporters, importers and retailers. The objective in all markets is to position Australian mangoes as a premium experience, with consumers happy to pay a premium price.

Pre-season planning meetings were held with supply chain partners in Hong Kong during Asia Fruit Logistica during September, and with USA supply chain partners during the PMA event in New Orleans in mid-October.

During October, training workshops and presentations were also conducted with retailers in New Zealand and Singapore, engaging retail staff across a range of functions including the Operations, Quality, Store Manager and Produce Department teams. The sessions were designed to inform, educate, inspire and motivate retail teams to engage in best practices for handling and merchandising Australian mangoes. Participants were encouraged to build large, luscious displays in prominent, front-of-store positions and were given quick and easy mango tips that would enable them to connect confidently with their customers.

In the Asian markets the consumer promotions will vary by market and will include a mix of point-of-sale material, in-store sampling, advertising, public relations and social media, with the majority of activity happening across November, December and January.

In the USA, Australian Mangoes are in the final year of a three-year trial and the marketing objective is to deliver a consistent quality mango experience, every mango, every time.

Marketing efforts are focused on engaging and educating all members of the supply chain – growers, exporters, importers and retailers – and there are two in-market visits planned throughout the season.

In addition, importers and retailers have been supplied with the full suite of Australian Mangoes brand collateral and marketing assets including varietal images, recipes, artwork for point-of-sale material and lifestyle images and video content enabling them to build their own bespoke programs.

Retailers have also been offered a sales incentive competition that will reward and recognise excellence for in-store execution, further engaging all stakeholders in the overarching objective of delivering a consistent quality mango experience, every mango, every time.

Look for updates in future editions of Hortlink.