A snapshot of the 2023/24 pear marketing campaign

Hort Innovation is responsible for investing the pear marketing levy into a range of activities to drive awareness and consideration. Here is a quick look at what happened during 2023/24… 

The 2023/24 pear campaign focused on three core pillars to increase engagement and sales: 

• Discover love of pears. Increase awareness and enjoyment of pears with sampling, alongside research to understand what motivating key benefits resonate with light buyers.
• Inspire and educate instore and online. Conduct a merchandising program, work with retailers and use social media to deliver educational messaging for consumers on how to choose, use and ripen pears. 
• Grow pear exports. Support industry exporters and drive preference for Australian pears in international markets. 

Insights that drove our thinking 

Pears are the forgotten fruit

• Pears are not top of mind for shoppers, with only 13 per cent spontaneously thinking of the fruit when asked what they are planning to buy in the next few weeks (compared to 64 per cent for apples and bananas). 25 per cent of shoppers claim that pears are ‘not on my shopping list’.
• Penetration of pears is quite low, with only 24 per cent of households having purchased pears in the past four weeks (compared to 66 per cent for bananas and 50 per cent for apples), highlighting a need to boost awareness and consideration for shoppers. 

Pears are good value for money

• Pears are viewed as good value for money when compared to other fruits, with 88 per cent of consumers agreeing that they are worth what they cost. 

Barriers to purchase

• From research the key reasons consumers do not buy pears is bruising (26 per cent), going off too quickly (21 per cent), and being perceived as messy (13 per cent). Education on handling and ripening pears is essential to overcoming these concerns. 

Export market challenges 

• Supply issues, fluctuating economic conditions, and strong competition from other countries impact export market performance. 

International consumer engagement 

• Social media campaigns were highly effective in increasing engagement with Aussie pears in international markets, and in-store promotions and sampling opportunities had positive feedback, highlighting the benefit of direct consumer interaction to drive sales. 

What the campaign looked like in market 

Domestic campaign  

The ‘one pear, five ways’ campaign was designed to tackle food and shine a spotlight on the versatility of the fruit and its use across all stages of ripeness.   

With new research from Australian Pears revealing that six in ten Australians admit to throwing away up to 25 per cent of their groceries each week, the campaign emphasised the importance of strategic grocery shopping. To help Aussies reduce food waste, Australian Pears partnered with MasterChef finalist, Simon Toohey, to share his tips on how to make the most of the weekly shop and use one pear five ways across all stages of ripeness.  

Simon highlighted the affordability and versatility of pears, calling them the ‘pearfect’ choice to add to shopping basket and cut back on wastage. Simon created six signature pears recipes to highlight the versatility of pears, stretching across a range of dishes, from hot to cold, savoury to sweet, breakfast to dinner and even a snack. 

The campaign was further supported by branded paid social content educating consumers about different uses of pears across various stages of ripeness.  

International campaign  

A co-promotion campaign was launched to support Australian pear exporters and ensure Australian pears were top of mind in key export markets. The campaign focused on increasing awareness and sales across New Zealand, Singapore, and Canada. A mix of retail promotions, digital campaigns, and in-store activations was deployed to engage consumers and highlight the quality and versatility of Australian pears.   

What did we achieve 

Media coverage 

The campaign was included in 55 spots across major publications like News.com.au, The Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun, Yahoo News, and The Australian, with a total reach of 558,000. Consumer response to the coverage was positive, with 90 per cent of the coverage retaining the campaign’s key messages. 

Social media 

Social media successfully brought the campaign to 8.9 million people, using paid, strategic boosting. The campaign generated nearly 29M impressions, with an engagement rate of 60.17 per cent.  

Instore sampling  

A total of 40,629 samples were distributed across Coles and Woolworths, reaching 47,329 shoppers. On average, 99 samples were given out per session, leading to an estimated 32,778 pears sold during sampling periods. The campaign also achieved a high conversion rate, with 88 per cent of shoppers who tried a sample purchasing pears, translating into 81 per cent sales conversion. 

Export campaign 

Across all markets, the campaign drove millions of impressions, effectively raising awareness of Australian pears.  

New Zealand saw a notable 63 per cent increase in instore sales, due to in-store activations (sampling opportunities) and retailer engagement, this was underscored with positive feedback from retail partners.  

The social media campaigns in Singapore and Canada delivered strong results, with recipes and content driving high levels of interest and interaction.