The latest wave of Consumer Tracking results, an impromptu Triple J banana fest and spots in nine of the ten top mainstream television programmes are among the latest Australian Bananas marketing highlights.
TV
If you were watching The Block, Australia’s Got Talent or This Time Next Year, chances are you may have caught the latest Australian Bananas campaign.
A two-network deal utilising Seven and Nine was negotiated for metro areas, while negotiations with all major networks took place in regional markets.
The burst launched on August 25 and kicked off with the Ashes Cricket Series.
Overall, Australian Bananas appeared in nine of the top ten mainstream TV programs during the campaign.
Digital Video
The Catch Up television component in now complete, with placements performing well across all major networks including SevenPlus, NineNow and TenPlay. This format saw high completion rates (people watching through to the end of the advertisement), averaging 97 per cent and well above the 70 per cent benchmark. YouTube also continues to perform well, and the latest FlyBuys data research will be released soon.
Radio and Audio Streaming
Podcast activity proved to be very cost efficient and exceeded expected results. Podcast ads were targeted nationally, but more than 80 per cent of users were based in metro areas. Interestingly, while most listened on mobile or tablet devices, 6 per cent listened on smart speakers or home assistants, aligned with the growth of these devices.
Australian Bananas campaigns also ran on the KIIS and Gold radio networks in all five metro markets and Spotify.
Out of Home
August saw a range of outdoor advertising activity commence, including in retail, transit and gym spaces.
Retail panels outside grocery stores served as a final reminder to pick up bananas, while the transit component included some high impact Double Decker buses in Sydney.
The gym campaign included advertisements on screens, as well as digital panels around the facility and bonus print insertions in the Fitness First and Fernwood magazines.
Some elements of the ‘Out of Home’ campaign are still live, but they are on track to over-deliver the reach and frequency goals.
Social Media
In October, the Australian Bananas Facebook and Instagram pages achieved a total reach of 2 million.
Proactive PR activity: Banana care package to Triple J
Ben and Liam at Triple J were the lucky recipients of an Australian Bananas merchandise package, after discussing their love of banana marketing on air in October.
The activity led to Ben and Liam reading out part of an included letter on their next segment, making multiple banana references and posting images on their social channels (173k following).
Triple J is a national consumer broadcast publication with a reach of 1,073,000.
Edentify Research Results August – October 2019
Snack category
Bananas’ ranking as the number one energy snack has been nicely building up in the last two years, breaking a new record this wave with a significant jump to 38%.
There has been no significant move in purchase frequency and volume, however 44% claim to be purchasing more bananas than 2 years ago – motivated by a better awareness of the health benefits or growing families.
Attitudes towards bananas
While consideration of bananas is still dominated by the Cavendish variety, other varieties are slowly starting to trend upwards.
Beyond loving the taste, people spontaneously associate bananas with healthy, convenient and energy.
Consumption behaviour
Shifting consumption behaviour takes time, but encouragingly, we can now clearly see the positive impact of the current campaign – the average number of occasions of banana consumption is growing, led by the target audience.
These results show banana consumption is at its maximum at breakfast, mid morning snack time and lunch time. There is also an upward trend of people eating bananas as a snack, which is a direct effect of the campaign. It will be important to maintain consideration to consume the fruit another way to keep increasing consumption overall.
Advertising effectiveness
The recent media activity proved its effectiveness, with ad recall breaking a new record.
Bananas hold their place at the top of snacking, scoring over the 60% mark despite the growing competition in this category.
Interestingly, compared to two years ago, most ‘unhealthier’ snacks are significantly less popular.
For more information on Australian Bananas marketing, email tate.connolly@horticulture.com.au.
SAVE THE DATE!
The 2nd annual National Banana Day will again be held on May 1, 2020.
Keep an eye out in the next Australian Bananas Magazine for details on how you can become involved in the day of activities, designed to celebrate the growers behind the industry and of course our favourite fruit!
