Australian Avocados

Opportunity
Hort Innovation needed marketing strategy and delivery expertise to pick-up and manage the Australian Avocados national marketing program. They needed a consultant who could hit the ground running, bring together the large number of program delivery agencies and rebuild the fractured relationship with the industry advisory board.

Solution
First, we interrogated the existing creative, messaging and media strategy and found we needed to revise the channel investment on TV (free to air, digital and catch-up), digital and out of home advertising to ensure we were reaching the right people. A clear and informed strategic direction on the social, experiential, public relations and nutrition elements of the marketing strategy was also lacking. With that in mind, we revised the entire marketing strategy. We streamlined the agency roster to make sure we had the right people to deliver the new program. We managed the procurement and ‘on-boarding’ of new agencies, whilst removing those agencies that were underperforming, and we implemented a framework of cross-agency collaboration. We delivered a comprehensive 3-year program review, launched a new consumer facing website, three public relations and experiential campaigns, implemented a sophisticated social strategy, built relationships with key consumer influencers, developed a program monitoring & evaluation plan (M&E), procured ongoing brand tracking consumer research and established overarching program and channel KPIs.

Results
Australian avocado consumption grew. The number of Australian households buying avocados grew by 4 per cent. There is a now a good working relationship between Hort Innovation and the avocado industry.

Testimonial
“Dave’s strong background in consumer insights really helped me bridge a credibility gap that developed in the business I managed. He came in and provided the perfect buffer between some unhappy customers and my enthusiastic but fledgling marketing team. His very successful banana marketing background really helped move some intrenched views and allowed the introduction of some new concepts in  the Avocado marketing plan…It allowed me the breathing space I needed at that time. Dave knows people, how to gets on with them and get the best out of them. He put us back in the game. Couldn’t recommend him highly enough!”  - Dave Moore, General Manager Research Marketing and Investment. Horticulture Innovation Australia (2015- 2019