The Good Mood Food campaign for Aussie horticulture
In the mood for some good news? Hort Innovation has developed The Good Mood Food initiative to support the horticulture sector through the effects of recent times, which are being felt in consumer spending and purchasing behaviour. The bold new marketing campaign is motivating more people to consume more hort produce more often, with the message that when you eat better, you feel better. Watch the video with our CEO Matt Brand below, and scroll down to get the full scoop on the campaign.
Matt Brand on The Good Mood Food campaign
What is The Good Mood Food?
The Good Mood Food campaign is delivering an immediate and enduring behaviour-change message to motivate more Australians to eat more fruit, veg and nuts, both during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s a direct-to-consumer marketing initiative playing out across the country using a range of channels, including TV, newspapers, radio, online, social media and retail partnerships.
The Good Mood Food’s central message is that fresh Aussie fruit, vegetables and nuts are natural mood boosters. The campaign is encouraging people to “eat on the bright side” – eating a wide variety of fresh and vibrant horticultural produce to look after themselves mentally, as well as physically.
What does it look like?
The television ad, some video snippets, stills and materials from the campaign are pictured below.
The Good Mood Food website, www.thegoodmoodfood.com.au, is a central spot for campaign messages and materials, with links to recipes and inspiration from a host of industries. As The Good Mood Food continues to develop, the website will come to include health information, fact sheets and more.
The Good Mood Food is also on Facebook and Instagram.
Most excitingly, following initial activities earlier in the month, a major television campaign is set to kick off on Sunday 31 May. The Good Food Mood ads will be appearing across metro and regional TV, as well as in catch-up services, during high-rating programs including Seven News, The Project and more. There'll also be placements directly linked to ‘good mood moments’ in popular shows such as MasterChef Australia, Have You Been Paying Attention?, Farmer Wants A Wife and others.
The Good Mood Food will also be appearing across print, web, YouTube and audio channels such as Spotify, and the Hort Innovation marketing team is working on activities with retailers as well. Out-of-home advertising will also be used, focusing on digitial screens in close proximity to grocery shops.
It’s expected that the campaign will reach up to 98 per cent of Australians through its combination of advertising, public relations, social media and media and retail partnership activity.
Why did Hort Innovation develop The Good Mood Food campaign?
The Good Mood Food is one of the ways we’re rallying behind the horticulture sector through challenging times. Growers across Australia are facing the impacts of drought, floods, bushfires and COVID-19 – and particularly their effects on the economy and consumer purchasing behaviour. COVID-19 is also having additional impacts, through changes to the export market and food service industries.
In response, the Hort Innovation Board has released risk management reserve funds for special investment in The Good Mood Food initiative.
More background info can be found in this news article, released by Hort Innovation on 29 May.
How long is it running for?
The initial activity is expected to run from May until the end of September this year. However there is also potential for The Good Mood Food to be extended to continue to educate and inspire Australians of all ages about how fruit, vegetables and nuts can be used to promote health and wellbeing.
Here, the campaign would be able to focus on seasonality or new ‘moments’ where consumers are looking for increased health and wellbeing or eating options.
There is also the opportunity for individual industry marketing programs, which are funded through industry marketing levies, to tap into the overarching themes and messages of The Good Mood Food.
Did you know…?
Hort Innovation has a range of R&D investments in the health and nutrition space which, where suitable, could be drawn upon to support The Good Food Mood messaging. The work is also available for industries and Australian horticulture businesses to explore and use.
Among other things, these projects investigate and communicate the science behind the health and wellbeing benefits of horticultural produce, and develop key educational messages and resources.
- Hort Innovation has a number of projects that are providing education on key health and wellbeing messages to Australian health professionals and horticulture industry participants. These include:
- Educating health professionals (AL16007) – this Hort Innovation Almond Fund project communicates the role almonds play in health, including through the Australian Almonds Health Professional Centre. Growers can also check it out here for fact sheets and information.
- Educating health professionals about Australian potatoes (PT19002) – funded through the Hort Innovation Potato – Fresh Fund, this project is testing the nutritional profile of several Australian potato varieties and communicating the latest science-based health and nutrition information to health professionals and the potato industry.
- Educating health professionals about Australian olive products (OL17002) – this investment in the Hort Innovation Olive Fund is delivering key information through the Olive Wellness Institute.
- Educating health professionals about Australian mushrooms (MU17002) – another project focused on communicating the science-backed benefits of food, this Hort Innovation Mushroom Fund work updates a range of resources, including this website.
- Nuts for Life – educating health professionals (HN17002) – this Hort Frontiers Health, Nutrition & Food Safety Fund delivers the Nuts for Life program.
- Educating health professionals (AL16007) – this Hort Innovation Almond Fund project communicates the role almonds play in health, including through the Australian Almonds Health Professional Centre. Growers can also check it out here for fact sheets and information.
- Completed projects that have substantiated formal health and nutrition claims for industries and growing businesses to use include Communicating the nutrition and health benefits of avocados (AV18004), with similar investments completing reviews and consolidation of information including Australian onions nutritional literature review (VN18002) and Review of the health benefits and nutritional properties of pear (AP15010).
- In the Hort Innovation Mushroom Fund, the project Mushrooms, vitamin D and cognition – human studies (MU12003) explored the role of vitamin D in human cognition and mood, to better understand the potential health benefits of mushrooms.
- Phenomenom is an online resource with videos, lesson plans and activities to help teachers and families talk to kids about vegetables, including their health and nutrition benefits. It was developed through the Hort Innovation Vegetable Fund project Educational opportunities around perceptions of, and aversions to, vegetables through digital media (VG16018), with subsequent contributions though the Hort Innovation Onion and Mushroom Funds.
- The Veggycation website helps educate Australians on the nutrition and health benefits of vegetables, with information on each crop specific for growers, too. It was developed through the Hort Innovation Vegetable Fund and recently refreshed through the project Vegetable digital asset redevelopment – Veggycation (VG16080).
- With a focus on physical health, the Hort Innovation Macadamia Fund investment The effect of macadamia nuts on cardiometabolic risk factors and adiposity: a randomised intervention study (MC17005) is looking at the benefits of including macadamia nuts in the diet.
- The Hort Innovation Vegetable Fund project Economic modelling of the impact of increased vegetable intake on health costs and grower returns (VG15031) explored the financial benefits of supporting Australians to eat more vegetables. Completed in 2016, at the time it suggested that if Aussies ate 10 per cent more vegetables per day, all levels of government could reap $100 million per year combined in health savings, and vegetable growers would be supported with an estimated $23 million per year in additional profit.
- Outside of edible horticultural produce, the health and wellbeing benefits of nursery and turf products have been and continue to be explored and promoted in Hort Innovation investments. Examples include Economic, environmental, social and health impacts and benefits of the turfgrass and lawncare industries in Australia (TU17006), Greener cities, healthier lives: measuring the wider societal benefits (GC15005) and also Healthy homes index (NY16008). The latter brought together the mental wellbeing and other health benefits of having indoor plants to inform the development of the Plant Life Balance app and consumer marketing campaign in the Hort Innovation Nursery Fund.
Have a question?
We’ll be updating this page with more information as it becomes available, and will be circulating updates on The Good Mood Food in our monthly Growing Innovation newsletter (if you’re not currently subscribed, sign up here).
If you still have a question, you can also reach out to the Hort Innovation team at thegoodmoodfood@horticulture.com.au, or talk to your Industry Strategic Partner, whose details can be found here.