Marketing snapshot - Hortlink 2016, winter

This Hort Innovation Persimmon Fund marketing snapshot has been taken from Hort Innovation’s Hortlink 2016, winter edition.

With a short autumnal season, marketing activity was targeted in order to generate enough of a groundswell to create demand for persimmons.

In a strategic move away from the traditional outputs of publicity, sampling, social media and point of sale, the marketing program centred on two key audiences sectors being Foodie and Health, and focussed on engagement via one specific output: educational events with key influencers across these two areas. This was done in order to get more bang for a limited buck and use the influence and reach of food and health industry leaders to drive the persimmon message, create demand and deliver outstanding return on investment.

The first event aimed to drive an online presence among leaders with influence in the foodie world with a combined social following of 75,685. Hosted by Brett Guthrey, President Persimmons Australia, and Monique Emmi, Marketing Manager Hort Innovation, the event provided insights into harvest and tips to educate on the best way to use persimmons.

Owners of The Stinking Bishop, where the event was held, were on hand to give advice on a range of premium cheeses that were specifically chosen to compliment the sweet taste of persimmons providing attendees with user-friendly, new options for serving persimmons.

The second event was targeted to Australia’s top nutrition writers and bloggers – key influencers who collectively have direct access to over 262,500 Australians and actively drive behavioural change in their audiences.

Lyndi Cohen, an accredited and well-respected nutritionist, researched and presented on the health benefits of adding persimmons to a diet. The event’s menu showcased the versatility of persimmons and their usability in a variety of sweet and savoury dishes.

The event focussed on the notion of eating with the seasons and that seasonal fruits provide vitamins and minerals required for that season – with persimmons as the prime example, packed full of vitamin C to prepare for winter flu season.

To create a steady stream of posts, attendees were each sent a tray of persimmons so that they could get creative in the kitchen and blog about their creations.

With a target of 80 media hits, the campaign has generated 165 pieces of coverage across print, online and social media, effectively more than doubling the KPI. The reach was upwards of 10.7 million.

The Australian Persimmons Facebook page doubled in fans during the campaign to 13,334. The target of Facebook likes of 2000 for the campaign saw more than quadruple achieved at 8321. Instagram followers increased by close to double to 760, well surpassing the target of 500. The total social media reach of the campaign was over 1.8 million.