Marketing snapshot - May 2019

This marketing update was prepared by Hort Innovation for the May 2019 edition of The Passion Vine, produced as part of the Hort Innovation Passionfruit Fund investment Australian passionfruit industry communications program (PF16003)…

Australian passionfruit on show!

Australian passionfruit featured at the Tropical Fruit Exhibit at this year’s Sydney Royal Easter Show (12-23 April), along with Papaya Australia. The intent was to reinvigorate interest in Australian passionfruit as well as educating showgoers on selection tips, seasonality and health benefits.

An estimated 901,000 attended this year’s show which made it the ideal platform to mass reach consumers (particularly young families) with Australian passionfruit key messages and sampling of the fruit.

The exhibit was brought to life with a 3m x 3m stand in the Woolworths Fresh Food Dome with brand ambassadors engaging with showgoers through sampling of fresh passionfruit (by itself and as a topping to papaya) and distribution of brochures, inclusive of health benefits, selection tips, a passionfruit-inspired recipe and call out to the Australian passionfruit website and social pages.

Over the course of the event, 23,520 samples of Australian passionfruit and 38,000 brochures were distributed. Estimating that 75 per cent entered the Woolworths Fresh Food Dome, the Australian passionfruit brand was seen by almost 675,000 people.

The response to the stand was overwhelmingly positive, with crowds and queues forming at the Tropical exhibit. The vibrant colours ensured maximum cut-through and strong visibility. Overall, a very strong campaign!

Social media

Aussie Passionfruit social media activity continues to attract and engage consumers. Below are the results to date as at April 2019:

The Australian Passionfruit social platforms continue to perform competitively, with the recent implementation of Facebook stories allowing promotion of dessert content and videos as they are proving to be highly engaging with the fan base.

Upcoming winter campaign

To support the upcoming winter flush of Australian passionfruit, public relations (PR), social media and in-store activities will be implemented over the next few months:

• Media outreach activities – includes a seasonal media release, new recipes and passionfruit hampers sent to media outlets and influencers to create excitement, conversation and coverage about the passionfruit winter flush.
  
  
• Passionfruit farm tour – media influencers, 9Kitchen and RecipeTin Eats (Nagi), will be hosted on a passionfruit farm tour in June to educate them on Australian passionfruit and get direct access to the growers and hear their stories first-hand. This encourages more content written about Australian passionfruit on media publications and social media platforms.
  
  
• ‘Always on’ social – posting of inspiring passionfruit recipe ideas and imagery to remain top of mind during the winter season.
  
  
• Influencer campaign – using food influencers to extend consumer reach for Australian passionfruit via inspiring passionfruit imagery and recipes during winter.
  
  
• In-store sampling activity – scheduled to go live in July on a national level to educate on passionfruit availability during the winter and encourage consideration and purchase through trial/sampling at point of purchase.

During May, further information about the marketing program was also presented to the Passionfruit Strategic Investment Advisory Panel. To view this presentation, click here.

For any queries relating to the passionfruit marketing program or specific information provided above, please email marketing@horticulture.com.au.