Educating healthcare professionals on Australian melons (VM20003)
What was it all about?
This project educated healthcare professionals (HPs) about the nutritional benefits of melons and supported the recommendation of melons by HPs to their clients, ultimately increasing melon purchase and consumption.
Challenge
The growth and sustainability of the Australian melon industry is heavily dependent on increasing consumer consumption. As a trusted and credible source of nutritional information, healthcare professionals play a critical role in shaping consumers’ dietary choices and purchasing decisions. However, prior to this project, melons lacked a clearly defined health positioning, with minimal research conducted on their nutritional benefits. The absence of targeted communication with HPs created a challenge in elevating melons as a healthy choice in the marketplace.
Response
To establish melons as a credible source of nutrition among HPs and consumers, and subsequently increase consumption and purchase, this project delivered a comprehensive and strategic response through the following initiatives:
- Conducted an umbrella review, technical report, and nutrition gaps analysis to build a robust foundation of nutritional evidence.
- Developed five key resources tailored for healthcare professionals, including fact sheets, videos, and educational animations.
- Established an online resource hub to house all educational materials, as well as a database of engaged healthcare professionals.
- Launched an engaging communication plan, including nine email direct marketing (EDM) campaigns to maintain connection with HPs and keep melons top of mind.
- Conducted a FOODiQ webinar as well as two podcasts.
- Implemented a digital outreach campaign, targeted to HPs to increase awareness of the resources, utilising social media, channel advertising, and influencers to drive engagement.
- Undertook ongoing evaluation through two audience sentiment research (ASR) surveys, conducted at the baseline and project end to measure impact and effectiveness.
Benefit
The initiative addressed a crucial gap in consumer awareness about the health properties of melons and ultimately boosted melon consumption, addressing the melon industry’s ambition to improve consumer perceptions of melon quality to support increased domestic demand.
Healthcare professionals gained a greater understanding of the nutritional benefits of melons, with the proportion of HPs who were ‘very familiar’ with their benefits and able to specify them increasing by nearly 80 percent during the project. HPs that accessed the project resources (85 percent) were also 1.5 times more likely to recommend melons to their clients than those who didn’t (55 percent). Among the HPs who accessed resources, 100 percent found them useful, underscoring the effectiveness of the educational materials developed.
By the end of the project, 89 percent of HPs agreed melons can play a role in improving colour variety in the diet.
ACT NOW
This project was a strategic levy investment in the Hort Innovation Melon Fund