Marketing snapshot - Hortlink 2017, edition 1

This Hort Innovation Passionfruit Fund marketing snapshot has been taken from Hort Innovation’s Hortlink 2017, edition 1.

This season, the ‘Finish with Passion’ marketing campaign is all about showcasing how natural and tangy Aussie passionfruit can transform ordinary dishes into something special. As well as point-of-sale kits being placed in independent greengrocers nationally, here’s a look at campaign activities.

Public relations activities

The campaign kicked off in late October 2016, with a recipe shoot led by food stylist Janet Mitchell. Janet created passionfruit ‘finish’ recipes, showing how passionfruit can be used to top a range of delicious dishes. These recipes, images and videos were offered to national media outlets, dietitians and other influencers to promote the use of Australian passionfruit in a variety of ways.

Since the campaign began there has been a great response, with close to 70 pieces of media coverage reaching more than 2.98 million consumers. Passionfruit images, recipes, ideas and other content has been shared across magazines, newspapers and websites. Coverage highlights included passionfruit pieces in The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Gold Coast Bulletin, The Weekly Times, Taste.com.au, The Queensland Times and across the 20 titles in the Newslocal publication group.

A feature article was also included in the February edition of Nourish magazine, which has a national reach of 175,000.

Media has been particularly interested in speaking to growers about the fruit they’re producing, which is a great way to showcase some of Australian passionfruit businesses.

Social media

The Aussie Passionfruit Facebook page (www.facebook.com/AussiePassionfruit) and Instagram account (@aussiepassionfruit) continue to provide the public with inspiring imagery of fresh Australian passionfruit, as well as tips on selecting, storing and using it. Health messaging is also weaved into the content.

With a focus on ‘Finishing with Passion’, the Facebook content includes many mouth-watering recipes, photos and ideas where passionfruit is the star. The first of the campaign videos created from the recipe shoot (described above) was shared on the Facebook page here. It shows how a simple passionfruit sauce can be used to complete a range of delicious dishes, including Eton mess, tropical churros and fruit toast. The video reached over 24,500 people and was shared 75 times.

Other popular activity on the page has included a video profile of grower Kaye Ziser at her farm on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. Celebrating the summer season and connecting consumers to the production of fresh food, the video reached some 14,400 people and was shared 68 times.

On Instagram, Aussie Passionfruit followers are particluarly interested in sweet recipes and  healthy usage ideas. Mouthwatering close-ups of passionfruit paired with seasonal information and tips perform particularly well on this channel.

To drive fan numbers, during December and January a competition was run encouraging Instagram users to share their favourite ways to finish a dish with passionfruit. Weekly winners received a hamper of fresh passionfruit, with over 75 high-calibre entries coming in, and helping spread passionfruit recipes and imagery on the channel.