Marketing spotlight 2021/22

Taste the sunshine with Aussie mangoes

Hort Innovation is responsible for investing the mango marketing levy into a range of activities to drive awareness and consideration. Here's a quick look at some of the activities and achievements in 2021/22.

In 2021/22, the Australian Mangoes marketing program promoted mangoes as an indulgent treat to enjoy regularly through campaign activities that provided inspiration, education and connection. The primary aim was to encourage Australians to include mangoes in their weekly shopping basket, with the fruit being perceived as a convenient and regular treat, rather than only a treat for special summer occasions.

The media strategy focused on maximising reach and frequency across the campaign period of September 2021 to March 2022. Across the marketing program for Australian Mangoes, the key message was ‘taste the sunshine.’ The sentiment of the slogan was that with every delicious mouthful of mango, consumers are tasting pure happiness, positive vibes, and all the glorious brightness of Australian sunshine.

Key messages were promoted through a complementary mixture of media channels, including out of home advertising, online videos, public relations, social media and export retail marketing activity.

Out of home

The objective of out of home advertising was to drive purchase intent through reaching shoppers on their path to purchase. The creative concept showed how eating a mango transports consumers to a world of good vibes, sunny nostalgia, and feelings of joy—a sweet escape. The silhouette of the iconic mango teardrop shape was used as a visual device to transport everyday Aussies to escape and taste the sunshine—a tropical, delicious, mango world.

In total, 78 per cent of grocery buyers in the panels’ vicinity aged 25 to 54 saw the advertisement an average of 13 times, achieving more than double the target KPI of an average six times. Additional panels were negotiated as part of the campaign, which increased the total media value by more than 23 per cent.

Online videos

The objective of the online videos was to drive reach (the total number of people who see the content) and awareness across YouTube and Teads media (an advertising platform). This saw Australian Mangoes feature on 7news.com.au, womensweeklyfood.com.au and newideafood.com.au.

The campaign resulted in 2.68 million impressions (number of times an advertisement or content has been displayed), exceeding the online video target KPI by 44 per cent. The main contributor of the strong performance was the short six-second video, which was most efficient in capturing consumer attention, particularly on mobile devices.

Public relations

The objective and strategy for public relations was to develop a campaign that leveraged the start of the season and the first day of summer, to position mangoes as an escape and an everyday accessible food, through earned media coverage.

As the season began to pick up momentum (in terms of volume) Australian Mangoes partnered with Brisbane Produce Market’s Mango Auction, which was held online in mid-September 2021. The auction has raised a cumulative total of $1 million for charity and achieved significant media coverage. Australian Mangoes teamed up with industry and growers, including Jenko’s Mangoes, to produce a fun film that featured the Jenkins family. Total coverage achieved more than 105 mentions across broadcast, print and online media.

To celebrate the first day of summer, Hort Innovation developed the ultimate summer starter kit with everything consumers need to ‘taste the sunshine.’ The program partnered with renowned summer influencers, lifeguards Trent Maxwell and Dominique Elissa to feature in a content shoot which displayed the summer starter kit. Simultaneously, a competition was announced, offering Australians a chance to win the kit alongside a summer’s supply of Australian mangoes.

The target KPI was exceeded, securing 33 pieces of coverage for public relations across TV, news, lifestyle, and radio media.

Social media

The Australian mango season was activated on social media via three content pillars:

1. Entertaining: Announcing key moments throughout the season and encouraging the consumption of mangoes where topically relevant (for example, the start of summer and long weekends).
2. Educating: Highlighting different mango varieties, giving each variant its moment to shine. This content also promoted the flavour and health credentials of mangoes.
3. Inspiring: Recipe content was used to inspire audiences to consume mangoes and try them in new and unique ways.

Overall, the activity achieved 109,000 impressions, 5,000 engagements (people interacting with the social media content with reactions such as likes, comments, or saves) and an engagement rate of 5.32 per cent, exceeding the industry average of 1.41 per cent. Content which performed best included culturally relevant and reactive content, such as:

• Valentine’s Day posts
• Recipes which provided usage inspiration
• Images which showcased different mango varieties
• The consumer competition which encouraged consumer engagement
• A short six second video. Export marketing initiatives

Throughout the 2021/22, Australian Mangoes were promoted in four key export markets, New Zealand, South Korea, the United States of America (USA), and Hong Kong, with the intention of building a stronger relationship between stakeholders and leveraging the quality an Australian mango has to offer.

Key activity included:

• 73 out of home advertising panels in New Zealand, which were displayed in close proximity to stores
• Public relations
• Live commerce at Naver shopping live channel
• A recipe video
• A Manna Mall event (online fruit market)
• Home shopping promotion in South Korea
• In the USA, a display store incentive program and shelf signage in-store with Giumarra, within Gelson’s supermarkets (Southern California supermarket chain)
• A social media advertising campaign in Hong Kong, which achieved a strong result reaching 546,000 people.

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.