Reigniting excitement for apples at core of new marketing push

New season apple marketing positions apples as delicious, healthy go-to snack in campaign that aims to lift consumption among ‘light buyers’. 

The awakening of the senses that comes from the simple act of eating a delicious, crisp apple is at the core of the new national marketing strategy released by Hort Innovation on behalf of the industry. Aiming to reignite excitement for apples, the strategy will actively convey to consumers the refreshing, delicious taste and sensory satisfaction that the fruit offers. 

The eye-catching Hit Refresh campaign graphics will appear across a wide range of platforms, including supermarkets, YouTube, shopper promotions and social media.

A particular consumer goal of the strategy is to increase purchase and consumption levels within the ‘light buyer’ segment. Hort Innovation Head of Consumer Marketing, Gillian Reilly, says while almost 90 per cent of Australian households purchased apples once in the past year, opportunity exists to target people who bought infrequently – the so-called light buyers. 

“Heavy users of apples bought on average 42.6 times over the course of the past year, while light buyers only purchased six times,” she said. 

The strategy is framed by three pillars: 

Pillar 1: reignite desire for apples. Key activities within this pillar include creative research, development and production. This pillar aims to drive apples’ refreshing taste appeal and sensorial eating experience. 

Pillar 2: surprise and delight at the point of purchase. This involves a two-pronged approach – the first being an expanded quality and merchandising program, addressing negativity around bruising and overall quality. The second prong is focused on varietal in-store sampling to drive excitement around the unique taste experience associated with each apple variety. 

Pillar 3: cement apples as the ultimate healthy go-to snack. This pillar involves running a test in petrol and convenience stores, which is where many consumers purchase snacks. 

Building on the Hit Refresh campaign that was launched in 2021–22 to reconnect Australians with apples, platforms for promoting the fruit during this new strategy include retail outlets in metropolitan and regional locations, YouTube (video content), radio, shopper promotions and social media. 

As part of the objective to achieve mass reach to Australian consumers, overall reach through YouTube is expected to be more than 11.5 million people, while almost 5.5 million main grocery buyers over the age of 18 are the overall target from radio promotion over two commercial networks. 

Social media (Facebook and Instagram) will be used to share a mix of snack ideas, influencer and branded content, while TikTok-tailored content will build reach through exposure to an audience not on Facebook.  

Out-of-home advertising panels will be set up in close proximity to supermarkets across Australia, maximising top-of-mind awareness of apples and reminding audiences of the sensorial experience that apples bring. 

Targeted retail exposure across the campaign period will excite consumers about apple varieties from May to June (three weeks on, one week off), with the estimated audience reach across the 12 weeks being 4.92 million people. 

A total of $686,000 has been allocated to the campaign this year, which runs from February to the end of June. 

This article was first published in the Autumn 2023 edition of AFG.