Marketing snapshot - Hortlink 2017, edition 1

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

As described in the last edition of Hortlink, the 2016/17 marketing campaign began in October. The aim is to entice more Australians to eat more peaches, plums, apricots and nectarines – lifting the profile of each fruit individually by creating social media buzz and generating media coverage around the season to fuel demand and purchase.

Objectives of the activity are to:

• Build high consumer awareness of the availability and quality of locally grown Australian summerfruit, especially at launch and during peak season

• Provide each product (peaches, nectarines, plums and apricots) with its own voice under the Australian Summer Stonefruit brand

• Position summerfruit as nature’s essential summer treat, easily enjoyed in so many mouth-watering ways (as a snack or dish)

• Drive awareness among consumers of the best ways to select, handle and store summerfruit

• Increase repeat purchase of summerfruit, especially during peak season.

At the time of writing, the public relations campaign was underway as follows:

• A refreshed media kit was developed and circulated to secure editorial coverage. The kit included a seasonal media release, fact sheet and recipes credited to Australian Summer Stonefruit, and was targeted to newspapers, TV and radio outlets, food and health publications, and online news, trade, horticulture and lifestyle outlets.

• There is continuing outreach to medium- and short-lead media outlets across food, health, horticulture and lifestyle sectors, with recipe stories and in-season highlights provided.

• Product drops to targeted foodies were conducted, getting fresh summerfruit into key influencers’s hands. The idea was to generate conversation through in-season and recipe posts (which have also been re-purposed across the Australian Summer Stonefruit channels).

• The official Australian Summer Stonefruit Facebook and Instagram accounts have been updated with posts to build interest and seasonal content, ranging from delicious recipes and usage ideas, to facts, health information and season updates. A targeted Facebook advertising campaign has also launched for the season to boost the fan base and engagement.

With the summerfruit season not yet wrapped up, there is still plenty more to do with activities to include:

• Continuing to give each fruit its own voice through recipe and serving tips on Facebook and Instagram

• Continuing to encourage media to hero the fruit in recipes and dial up individual profiles by sending a multitude of varieties to food editors for recipe development

• Using budget savings to approach media with longer deadlines to set up editorial for 2018.

The summerfruit industry is also involved in the Now In Season program, led by the Victorian Government. Now In Season is a multi-industry, multi-country campaign that promotes Australian produce to in priority international markets. Summerfruit activity under the program includes sampling and point-of-sale materials to encourage trial and purchase of Australian summerfruit, as well as media activity, with priority countries including the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, China and United Arab Emirates.