About the marketing program

See the latest marketing activity that’s helping Aussie consumers connect with (and eat!) Australian avocados. The industry’s marketing is managed by Hort Innovation and funded by the avocado marketing levy. Hort Innovation develops consumer-focused promotions using a variety of mediums including social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube as well as targeted partnerships with consumer related publications and platforms.

The Betoota Advocate

As part of Hort Innovation’s levy-funded marketing activity for the industry, Australian Avocados has recently worked with popular satirical news website The Betoota Advocate (www.betootaadvocate.com) to publish two articles about avocados. The partnership was decided on to leverage the publication’s voice and social influence for avocados, and to lighten the conversation around consumer gripes.

Started in 2014, and now the most popular satirical news site in Australia, The Betoota Advocate’s growing readership base is largely driven via its social page on Facebook, where it boasts in excess of 330,000 followers. While based in inner Sydney, the site takes its name from the deserted regional Queensland town of Betoota, with its articles putting a comedic spin on current news topics and broader social observations.

Article 1 – a witty response to housing affordability

The first Australian Avocados article, published in early July, was a timely and witty response to the recent rhetoric around avocados and housing affordability. You can view the article, First Home Buyer Hospitalised With Avocado Deficiency, here.

Article 2 – tackling purchasing nervousness

The second article was to address one of the key purchase barriers of avocados identified by consumer research: nervousness about buying an avocado that is bruised or otherwise blemished inside. The goal was to educate consumers about correctly handling avocado, in a humorous way that would not put people offside. The resulting article, published in late July, was titled Husband Blames Farmers For Bruised Avocados At The Bottom Of His 20kg Grocery Run.

Campaign success

The Betoota Advocate campaign was a great success, with more than 1.8 million views of the avocado articles. Just over one million of these views were on The Betoota Advocate’s Facebook page, with 12,500 people clicking through to read the full articles on the publication’s website.

Total views of the articles on the website were close to 33,900, with the average time spent on the website was 1 minute and 15 seconds. This time shows that the people who went to the web page took the time to read the articles in their entirety.

Readers loved the avocado articles, with the overwhelming majority of comments on social media being positive. People were both amused by and supportive of the content, getting on board and extending upon both jokes in many instances. Overall, the campaign was an incredibly successful and cost-effective exercise in driving social brand awareness, based on trends relevant to our target audience.

This update was provided by Hort Innovation for Guacamole 18 August 2017.