Marketing snapshot - April 2019

This marketing update was prepared by Hort Innovation for the Autumn 2019 edition of Australian Berry Grower’s Journal...

The marketing campaign for raspberries and blackberries is currently underway for the 2018/19 season and this update gives an overview of the activity and strategy that lies behind it.

The strategy for raspberries and blackberries is clearly focused on increasing the amount of these berries that are consumed by each member of the Australian population and this is referred to as ‘per capita consumption’.  The campaign is targeting two demographic groups who have been identified through consumer insights to be the groups most likely to respond to sales messages about raspberries and blackberries.  Put simply, the campaign is targeting Australian families with children in the household where the person responsible for the shopping – ‘Main Grocery Buyer’ – is aged between 25 and 54. The second group, referred to here as ‘Young Transitionals’ – are people aged between 25 and 35 who typically are yet to form a family unit, but they are living independently.

At an overall level, the objective behind the next three years’ marketing campaign is to increase the amount of raspberries and blackberries consumed by 40% supported by positive consumer perceptions of product value.  The key message that the campaign will be built around is that raspberries and blackberries are a way to transform something simple into super.  Adding these berries will instantly bring a boost of flavour and colour to any dish and boost the nutritional value of everyday meals and snacks.

The programme will seek to drive awareness of availability of the fruit during the season, build consumer awareness of the nutritional benefits of the berries, inspire increased usage and build consumer confidence around selecting and using these fresh berries.

The campaign is using four main channels to deliver the strategic pillars of communication; social media, influencer marketing, traditional public relations and in-store demonstrations.

Social media

During February 2019, the Fresh Berries Facebook page featured 2 x posts a week, to ensure berries are remaining top of mind with consumers. The role of social media is to inspire Aussies and overcome purchase barriers by consistently reminding of the benefits of fresh raspberries and blackberries with compelling content.

For fresh content, a food stylist and recipe developer Megan Evans will be commissioned to produce ten recipes and corresponding imagery and video and will utilise nutritionist Nadia Felsch to help develop compelling health content.

The goal of the campaign is to reach people with berry content 500,000 times. The campaign will extend to May 2019. 

The Instagram channel is completely new this year for raspberries and blackberries and activity will focus on building followers with at least two relevant posts each month.

The marketing team will use a phased approach that pulls together the best of content, organic discovery (hashtags, website tile), encourages audience participation and user generated content (UGC), and supported by a paid strategy (micro-influencers via TRIBE, Facebook adverts and Instagram adverts).

The goal of the campaign is to reach people with berry content 250,000 times. The campaign will run from February until May 2019.

Influencer marketing

According to a study by Deloitte, word of mouth remains the most trusted source for purchase influence, so influencers on social media are an important part of the marketing campaign. A partnership will be developed with the world's fastest growing marketplace, TRIBE, which connects brands with micro-influencers to help achieve influence at scale.

It’s an effective way to drive immediate campaign content, reach and channel growth for the new raspberries and blackberries Instagram account in a short amount of time. This is important in ensuring content hits the market at the best time to suit fruit quality and availability.

TRIBE influencers will be tasked with sharing their best fresh berries dish that takes something from simple to super.  At the point of going to press, 8 posts have already gone live with a reach of over 500,000 with over 16,000 engagements (likes, comments, shares).

Public relations (PR)

The raspberry and blackberry public relations strategy aims to give Australians a stronger reason to buy more fresh raspberries and blackberries by educating them on the fruit’s health benefits and inspiring regular snacking.

The purpose of PR is to maximise the limited budget available by extending the coverage of raspberries and blackberries through what is known as ‘earned’ media.  This is achieved by writing a series of interesting stories and sending them with beautiful photos to media outlets such as magazines and food websites, to encourage them to publish them without being paid for the media space that is given.

The goal of the PR campaign is to achieve a minimum of 4 million ‘opportunities to see’ (a measure of the frequency of consumer exposure to key messages), including at least 10 pieces of coverage from top tier media. Top tier media are channels which are credible, established, perhaps national in scope, or have a good reach to target audiences. Woman’s Day magazine would be a top tier media outlet in this context.

To achieve great coverage from the PR campaign the team will:

• Engage clinical nutritionist Nadia Felsch to deliver consumer friendly health messaging
• Build a new suite of on-trend recipes with stylist Megan Evans

In addition, on February 28^th, a media event was held in Sydney at hatted restaurant Banksii which saw 17 top tier media and influencers attend, such as Woolworths Magazine, Woman’s Day and Body & Soul. A bespoke berry themed menu was created to showcase savoury and sweet uses of fresh raspberries and blackberries, and there was an interactive grazing platter masterclass which showed guests how to create their own berry grazing platter. This showcased the ‘transformation’ message of making something simple into something super with berries, as well as making berries top of mind for entertaining. Nadia Felsch also talked the attendees through the health benefits.

Coverage immediately following the event has had a reach of almost 400,000, and further outreach will be completed to continue to obtain more coverage throughout the peak season.

In-store demonstrations

In-store demonstrations will be held across February and March 2019 in 60 Coles and 60 Woolworths stores.

The objective of in-store sampling is to demonstrate the ways in which fresh raspberries and blackberries can be incorporated into snacking and home meal occasions, to drive trial and purchase and to drive value perception through education (health and storage) and inspiration.

Customers will sample raspberries filled with yoghurt, and yoghurt topped with blackberries & coconut. Product brochures will also be handed out with each sample to reinforce both recipe inspiration and the health information.

Consumer survey’s will also be conducted in a handful of stores to understand the consumer’s perceptions of the sample and whether it has had a positive influence on intent to purchase.

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