Australian Avocados Marketing Update 2025
About the marketing program
This is 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 and Instagram, as well as targeted partnerships with consumer-related publications and platforms.
Keep scrolling to see more great marketing activity in 2025. And, if you are chasing some delicious avocado recipes, check out Australian Avocados.
‘Avo-Can-Do So Can You’ campaign results so far – 5 Dec 2025
In May 2025, Australian Avocados launched the ‘Avo-Can-Do So Can You’ campaign, deploying an omnichannel approach across paid, owned, and earned media. The campaign’s objective was simple yet powerful: encourage light buyers who regularly purchase fruit and veg to buy Australian Avocados more often.
The campaign’s creative platform, Avo-Can-Do, celebrates the avocado’s versatility and nutritional value, positioning it as the fruit that inspires a can-do attitude in everyday life…
2025 Domestic Marketing Showcase – WATCH THE VIDEO!
This video features a 2025 Marketing Showcase presentation by Hort Innovation delivered online on Wednesday 5 November 2025. It lets growers know how levies are being invested to drive marketing outcomes that correlate directly with positive consumer behaviours, increased consumption and returns for growers.
Hear how earned media is amplifying reach, how retail and export channels are being activated and the importance of co-designing our marketing programs with industry representatives.
From the bold ‘over or under’ onions debate, avocados focus on foodservice and papaya’s tropical take at the Good Food & Wine Show; you’ll hear how data-led strategies are driving impact across horticulture.
Australian Avocados Shine at Food & Hospitality QLD Tradeshow – 24 October 2025
Australian Avocados proudly took the spotlight at the Food & Hospitality Queensland Tradeshow (12–13 October), which attracted over 15,000 foodservice professionals across QSRs, cafés, pubs, and restaurants. As part of our FY25–26 marketing plan (Pillar 3 – Channel Expansion), we delivered two high-impact activations designed to elevate avocado usage in commercial kitchens.
Educational Masterclass: Beyond the Smash – Mastering Sauces & Dressings with Australian Avocados
Led by Louis Tikaram, Head Chef and Partner at The Stanley Restaurant, this hands-on session welcomed 35 chefs and café owners. The masterclass explored avocado’s unique role as a natural emulsifier, demonstrating how it can replace traditional binders to create silky, nutrient-rich dressings and sauces.
Key Outcomes:
- 100% of surveyed attendees said they are “definitely likely” to incorporate avocados into sauces and dressings on future menus.
- The session reinforced avocado’s operational efficiency and versatility, aligning with the goals of Project AV25003 – Avocados FY26 Foodservice Program – Educational Masterclasses, which aims to grow avocado usage in foodservice through education.
Chef of the Year Competition – Sponsored by Australian Avocados
Australian Avocados proudly sponsored the Chef of the Year Competition, a dynamic showcase of culinary creativity. Chefs were challenged to craft an entrée and main course dish using a mystery box of ingredients- avocados featured as a key pantry item.
Competition Highlights:
- Avocados were featured in a finalist’s grand final dish, reinforcing their appeal and adaptability.
- The Australian Avocados brand was highly visible across event signage, brochures, social media, and the official website, amplifying reach and recognition among the foodservice community.
By engaging chefs and hospitality professionals directly, we’re building confidence, capability and intention to feature Australian Avocados on menus nationwide.
Australian Avocados to take the spotlight at Food & Hospitality QLD – 10 October 2025
Australian Avocados will be a featured partner at the Food & Hospitality Queensland Tradeshow (12-13 October) where they will showcase the versatility and value of avocados in foodservice through two exciting activations. These initiatives are part of our broader push to expand avocado usage across foodservice channels, aligning with Pillar 3 – Channel Expansion of the FY25–26 marketing plan.
Educational Masterclass: Beyond the Smash – Mastering Sauces & Dressings with Australian Avocados
Tradeshow attendees can join acclaimed chef Louis Tikaram for a hands-on session that reimagines how Australian avocados show up on menus. The masterclass will explore avocado’s power as a natural emulsifier to create silky smooth dressings and sauces.
From salad bowls to sushi rolls, Louis will demonstrate how to replace traditional binders with avocado, creating nutrient-rich bases that can be used across a variety of formats. This session will provide hospitality operators with avocado applications that are operationally smart, cost-efficient and add value for both customers and businesses.
Learn more about the session on the Food & Hospitality Queensland Website: https://foodandhospitality.com.au/session/beyond-the-smash-mastering-sauces-dressings-with-australian-avocados/
Chef of the Year Competition – Sponsored by Australian Avocados
Australian Avocados will also sponsor the Chef of the Year Competition, a high-energy event that will put chefs’ creativity and skill to the test. Thirty minutes before each heat, contestants will receive a mystery box of ingredients to incorporate into their menu, alongside pantry staples – featuring avocados as a key item. Each chef has 60 minutes to prepare and serve four entrées and four mains. The competition spans five heats across Sunday and Monday, culminating in a final showdown.
As part of our sponsorship, the Australian Avocados logo will appear prominently on the stand, event collateral (including the event magazine), and on the winner’s certificate and cheque. We will also feature in a dedicated social post on the @foodhospitalityqld account.
How the competition works:
- Chefs received a mystery box of ingredients 30 minutes before the event began.
- Contestants used part of each mystery box ingredient, then selected additional ingredients from the pantry to enhance their menu. Avocados was one of the key pantry items.
- They had 60 minutes to prepare and serve 4 entrées and 4 mains (8 plates in total).
- There were 5 heats throughout Sunday and Monday, with the final taking place on Monday at 2.30pm.
Our sponsorship:
- Australian Avocado logo appeared on the stand, event collateral (including the event magazine) and on the winners’ certificate and cheque.
- Australian Avocados featured as a key pantry item.
- As part of our sponsorship, we featured on a social post on @foodhospitalityqld
Foodservice is a key focus for FY26 marketing plan – pillar 3 – channel expansion – collaborating with foodservice industry, foodservice program implementation (continuation of communications programs and tradeshows), foodservice masterclasses
The project’s activities ladder up to the goal of increasing domestic consumption of Australian avocados and increase household penetration of light buyers in all markets.
The Foodservice Masterclass is part of the project AV25003. This project will deliver a national educational program to chefs, quick service restaurant (QSR) teams, and hospitality professionals. Designed to grow the Australian avocado category in foodservice, it will equip these foodservice professionals with the knowledge, tools and inspiration to use Australian avocados in diverse menu applications.
Key activities include developing a comprehensive foodservice education strategy, creating a suite of educational tools (including a QSR-specific avocado handbook), and hosting hands-on masterclasses and chef-led events and demonstrations in major metro areas. The program will engage stakeholders such as QSR chains, chefs, providores, and foodservice professionals, while supporting growers and marketers by strengthening avocado visibility and usage in high-volume commercial kitchens.
The intended impact for growers is to increase demand for Australian avocados in foodservice, drive menu adoption, and deepen industry understanding of avocado handling, profitability, and versatility. By fostering direct connections between growers and foodservice professionals, the project aims to deliver measurable benefits for the industry, including improved confidence, capability, and intention to add avocados to menus, as well as enhanced perception of value and provenance.
Bringing Avo-Can-Do to Life with Tom Walton & Sarah Brown – 26 September 2025
Australian Avocados is teaming up with popular content creators Tom Walton and Sarah Brown to bring our bold new brand platform, Avo-Can-Do So Can You, to life through engaging, avocado-led recipe content.
Known for their fresh, feel-good creations, Tom and Sarah are inspiring Australians to embrace the delicious and nutritious versatility of avocados – whether it’s breakfast, lunch or dinner. Their content will highlight how Australian Avocados can fuel a can-do attitude and help people feel their best, one meal at a time.
From breakfast toasties to hearty nourish bowls, the duo’s recipes are designed to spark joy, entertain, and make people think, “I could do that!”
Check out their latest Instagram posts here: POST #1 | POST #2 | POST #3
FY26 Marketing Campaign Targets Light Buyers with Strategic Media Mix – 29 August 2025
Exciting plans are underway for Australian Avocados as we look ahead to the upcoming marketing period, from October 2025 to June 2026. The strategy aims to increase consumption and keep avocados front of mind year-round, with a particular focus on encouraging light buyers to purchase Australian avocados more frequently.
Multi-channel media strategy
To achieve these objectives, the campaign will activate a diverse mix of media channels, each strategically selected to maximise reach, engagement, and brand salience:
Outdoor Advertising
Role: Deliver broadcast awareness and visibility along the path to purchase.
Expect vibrant avocado messaging on street furniture and large and small format retail screens, especially near major retailers. Real-time verification and audience insights will be delivered to the Hort Dashboard via Veridooh, using facial detection technology within screens to measure attention, demographics, and actual reach and frequency.
Broadcast TV
Role: Drive salience and scale through high impact reach and mental availability for Australian Avocados.
TV placements will run in two bursts – October and March to May – aligned with Shepard and Hass avocado seasons and the latest supply forecasts from Infocado. Spots will appear in tentpole programming (news, entertainment, food shows) for maximum impact, using 15 second TVCs with:
- 60% on primary channels
- 60% during peak time
- 20% with first in ad break positioning
Each burst is scheduled for an optimal duration to maximise audience reach without oversaturating the same viewers.
Online Video
Role: Extend reach and drive salience beyond broadcast TV.
Digital video will run on YouTube and Amazon Prime, targeting audiences based on sign-in demographics, interests, and purchase intent.
- Forecasted reach: 4.1 million (YouTube) and 568k (Amazon Prime).
Paid Social Media
Role: Bring Australian avocados into the everyday, extending the screen strategy onto mobile.
Paid activity across Meta and TikTok will feature both brand and creator-generated content to educate, entertain, and inspire. Posts will appear in feeds, stories, and explore formats, building frequency across the campaign.
- Forecasted Reach: 13–14 million
- Frequency: Average 9x, capped at 1 impression every 2 weeks to ensure consistent delivery and incremental reach.
Radio & Retail Audio:
Role: Build reach and frequency across broadcast and in-store.
National radio campaigns delivered across Nova and Smooth FM and Coles in-store radio will deliver mass reach nationally and prompt purchase at the point of sale, with audio assets tailored for seasonality.
Retail Media:
Role: Build continuity from online to offline to prompt people in the purchase moment, speaking to the versatility of avocados.
Digital display formats on Woolworths and Coles websites will reach shoppers as they plan and make their purchases.
- Coles placements will target fruit and vegetable categories.
- Woolworths placements will extend to categories like Mexican, cheese, bread, corn chips, salads, and more to boost impressions and campaign reach.
Placements seek to increase campaign reach, frequency and impressions, supporting the efforts of the wider media mix.
Earned media:
Role: Leverage seasonal occasions to influence light buyers.
Earned media will spotlight avocado versatility and relevance throughout the year, encouraging trial and repeat purchase. PR spikes will be timed to coincide with both Hass and Shepard seasons, encouraging purchase during key supply periods.
Social Influencers
Role: Align with social contexts and occasions and leverage the right content and influencers to educate, entertain and inspire audiences to eat more avocados.
The campaign will partner with influencers/content creators to align avocado messaging with social contexts and relevant occasions, driving inspiration and education through authentic voices.
Owned – social and website
Role: Build positive associations and brand salience.
Content across owned social media and the Australian Avocados website will offer more reasons to enjoy avocados, reinforcing brand messaging.
Education Initiatives:
Role: Help consumers identify ripe avocados without bruising.
Earned and owned activities will educate shoppers on selecting ripe avocados confidently, reducing waste and improving satisfaction.
Stay tuned for more updates as the Australian Avocados team continues to innovate and inspire shoppers through a dynamic, multi-channel approach.
NATIONAL AVOCADO DAY – 31 July 2025
Bondi Beach Breakfast Rave
On Thursday 31 July, Australian Avocados turned up the energy for National Avocado Day with a lively, feel-good campaign built around our ‘Avo-Can-Do’ brand platform. The activation was about celebrating the delicious and nutritious qualities of Australian Avocados and the positive, can-do spirit they inspire.
With physical and mental health increasingly top-of-mind for consumers, the campaign taps into the rising popularity of breakfast raves – a fresh, new morning wellness ritual for Australians looking to start their day with more joy. This year, Australian Avocados joined the movement with a pop-up breakfast rave in Bondi, Sydney. Read the full story HERE.
See the TODAY Show 9Now LIVE cross:
It reached an estimated audience of 1,930,000. The segment was also shared online via 9Now HERE reaching an additional 1,100,000.
Hear the live to air announcement on NOVA:
The NOVA spot reached an estimated listenership of 788,069.
“AVO CAN DO” TVCs – Aired from 20 July 2025
Mornings 15 second TVC:
Guac 15 second TVC:
Guac 6 second TVC:
Morning 6 second TVC V03:
Morning 6 second TVC V04:
New National Brand Campaign Aims to Drive Avocado Consumption Among Light Buyers – 9 June 2025
Hort Innovation, in collaboration with creative agency Thinkerbell, have launched a bold new brand campaign to drive top-of-mind awareness and consideration of Australian Avocados – particularly among light buyers.
Why a new campaign?
The previous Our Green Gold campaign successfully built awareness and distinctiveness for the brand but did not quite move the needle on consideration. This new campaign addresses that gap – drawing on insights from Hort Innovation’s data, Thinkerbell’s behavioural science approach, and creative strategy.
The insight behind the idea
Australians are looking to satisfy cravings for rich, creamy tastes and textures and eat healthily. Australian Avocados tick both boxes. The campaign taps into this dual desire with the proposition: Australian Avocados are delicious nutritious.
The idea: Avo-Can-Do
“Avocados are the fruit that can do both. They are delicious and nutritious. They’re the can-do fruit that puts you in a can-do frame of mind. So, you can-do whatever you want to do.”
The campaign aims to show that Aussie Avocados can-do pretty much anything, including inspiring a can-do attitude.
“Can-do anything” – Avocados are the ultimate all-rounder. From soups, salads, and sandwiches to heart health, mood-boosting benefits, and good fats – avocados can-do anything.
“Can-do attitude” – This emotional layer brings an uplifting, playful tone to the campaign, expanding its appeal beyond recipes to inspire and connect with consumers on a deeper level.
Where you’ll see it
The campaign is now live across Out-of-Home, Retail Online Media, and Social Media. Radio will hit the airwaves in June, followed by film assets launching in July.
Here’s how the campaign will roll out across key paid media channels:
- TV: 15-second spots on Channel 7, 9 and 10 across Metro 5 to generate mass campaign reach and impact.
- Digital TV: Running across YouTube and Prime Video, with pre-rolls, bumpers and Shorts targeting engaged viewers using sign-in demographic data, interests, and purchase intent.
- Social media: Meta and TikTok will drive campaign frequency through in-feed, Stories, and Explore placements.
- Outdoor: A range of formats including retail, large format, transit, and street furniture will ensure high visibility in key locations.
- Audio: Broadcast radio ads (15” and 30”) will air on NOVA and Smooth FM, while Spotify will run podcast pre- and mid-roll ads with mobile display assets. Audio will be tactically placed to find people in habitual listening moments with a focus on breakfast/morning/afternoon/drive day parts in all markets. On Spotify, ads will aim to reach habitual podcast listeners.
- Retail online media: Targeted digital display ads on Coles360 and Cartology will serve reminders near the point of purchase – across relevant categories like fruit and veg, Mexican, cheese, bread, chips, international food and salad.
Success so far!
So far, the campaign is successfully conveying the appealing duality of Australian Avocados as a tasty, nutritious fruit. According to Cubery creative testing research:
- Avo-Can-Do, as a brand platform, resonates with consumers – rating 21 points above the Cubery norm of 52.
- The overall look and feel is working with bold visuals and distinctive branding cutting through the noise and boosting appetite appeal.
- Out-of-home placements are showcasing avocado’s taste, versatility, and duality, and bolstering nutrition perceptions.
- Film assets are captivating, compelling, and connect well with consumers, rating in the top 3% of film executions tested by Cubery.
With its catchy, creative concept and wide-reaching media mix, the campaign is set to boost top-of-mind awareness and drive consideration of Australian Avocados. Stay tuned for the film assets launch in July – and watch as the Avo-Can-Do So Can You message spreads nationwide!
Avocados FY26 Domestic Marketing Plan Overview – 23 May 2025
The FY26 Domestic Marketing Plan aims to increase domestic consumption of avocados to 150,000t by 2026, while supporting profitable farm gate prices. The focus is on increasing purchase frequency among light buyers to increase overall household penetration and make avocados a consistent addition to the weekly shop of Australians nationwide.
Access the Avocados FY26 Domestic Marketing Plan HERE.
Avocados marketing campaign delivers strong performance in FY25 – 9 May 2025
Australia’s domestic avocado marketing campaign for FY25 is wrapping up with impressive results so far, driving strong awareness, engagement and purchase intent among Australian consumers. Delivered by Hort Innovation, the campaign is supporting the industry’s goal of increasing domestic consumption to 150,000 tonnes by 2026 while contributing to profitable farmgate returns for growers.
By focusing on light buyers and highlighting the taste, versatility and everyday appeal of avocados, the campaign has delivered top-of-mind awareness through paid, earned and owned media activity.
Out-of-home (OOH) advertising
Out-of-home placements have so far played a central role in the campaign by driving mental availability and high visibility across both large and small format media.
Large format OOH:
- Olympic-themed creative was showcased on 61 high-impact digital sites nationally during the Paris Olympics, creating buzz and aligning with a key cultural moment.
Small format OOH/Retail OOH:
- Over 6,000 digital panels were positioned near supermarkets and grocers from July 2024 to March 2025, with a 70% metro / 30% regional split reflecting population density.
So far, large and small format OOH activity has reached over 10 million Australians and delivered more than 187 million impressions, with the average consumer exposed to avocado messaging 18 times.
Retail digital displays – e-commerce
Digital advertising across Coles and Woolworths online platforms effectively targeted consumers searching for fruit, vegetables, and complementary items like Mexican food and chips. This e-commerce activity supported in-store messaging and helped drive conversion close to the point of purchase.
Across the campaign period, $195 million in avocado sales were recorded at both retailers. Online accounted for 10 per cent of Woolworths sales and 7 per cent at Coles. The strong sales growth was driven by new-to-brand shoppers and increased average spend across the board.
Paid social media
Paid social media activity on Meta and TikTok extended campaign reach to more than 18 million. Always-on short-form video assets and long-form creator content, including creator-led recipe videos, helped reinforce avocados as a versatile, everyday food. TikTok proved particularly effective in reaching younger demographics, delivering incremental reach and engagement. Content that positioned avocados close to the point of consumption resonated particularly well and helped strengthen engagement.
Earned Media
The campaign strategically leveraged culturally relevant moments to capture media attention, highlight new usage occasions, and spark conversation:
- Corn chip safe guacamole (National Avocado Day): Partnering with chef Toby Wilson of Rico’s Tacos, the campaign launched the world’s first “corn chip-safe guacamole,” attracting widespread media coverage including a Daily Telegraph print ad and responses from major chip brands. Potential reach: 3.4 million.
- Royal avocado carriage (King Charles III’s visit): A cheeky activation during the King’s visit to Sydney saw commemorative ‘avocado carriage’ featured on 16 donated large-format billboards across Sydney. Estimated reach: 2.5 million, seen an average of 2.3 times.
- Shepard avocado season: A limited-edition Shepard Avocado Delight sandwich, developed with viral Sydney sandwich shop Cross Section, helped shift sentiment around the variety. Influencers Lil Eets and Tom Walton amplified the activation on social media, leading to the sandwich being dubbed the “official sandwich of the season.” Estimated reach: 3.8 million.
Across the three earned media moments, 26 pieces of news coverage were generated, with a combined potential reach of over 8 million Australians to date.
Owned Media
Owned media channels — including the Australian Avocados Instagram and TikTok pages — kept the brand front-of-mind year-round through entertaining, educational and inspiring content.
A key highlight was the launch of “Pipcom”, a TikTok-native mini-sitcom starring quirky characters Avo, Cado and Pip. The series cleverly embedded health, taste and versatility messages while engaging viewers in a fun, relatable way. Pipcom reached 6.78 million users with strong engagement and positive sentiment.
Complementing this, aesthetic ASMR-style recipe videos produced by influencer Lil Eets delivered an additional 4.65 million in reach across both brand and creator channels, with users resonating with Lilian’s easy, everyday avocado recipes.
Overall, owned media content has achieved a reach of 5.8 million on Meta, 2.9 million on TikTok, with over 16,522 cumulative engagements across all social channels.
Wrapping up
With more than 18 million reached via paid social, over 10 million through out-of-home, and millions more via earned and owned content, the FY25 campaign to date has significantly strengthened consumer awareness, cultural relevance, and purchase intent for Australian Avocados.
AVO-CAN-DO: A Fresh Take on Australian Avocados
The Hort Innovation Avocado Brand Team and creative agency Thinkerbell, in close collaboration with the Avocado Market Development Panel, are proud to launch a bold new brand campaign for Australian Avocados – AVO-CAN-DO, So Can You.
Rooted in the insight that Australian Avocados are both delicious and nutritious, the new brand campaign brings these dual benefits to life, highlighting that – because Australian Avocados can do pretty much anything, so can you!
Hitting the key proof points of taste, versatility, and health, the AVO-CAN-DO campaign is all about inspiring Australians to channel their own “can-do” spirit.
A Campaign That Cuts Through
The campaign creative has recently undergone testing via research agency Cubery with overwhelmingly positive results. The campaign outperformed all metrics, +21 above the Cubery rating norm of 52, showing the strength of the idea, with brand positioning noted as ownable and enduring. Visually, the brand’s distinctive assets and bold design resonated well with consumers, delivering the cut-through, while also driving appetite appeal with strong, mouth-watering visuals.
Both film and radio executions of the campaign also tested above Cubery norms, successfully landing product benefits with a dose of bold humor. The messaging is clear while being memorable and entertaining. The film execution outperformed all film narratives, ranking within the top 3% of all films tested by Cubery.
Rolling Out Nationwide
The campaign is now live across Out-of-Home panels and social media, with film and radio assets in production and set to go live across June and July – stay tuned for further updates!
Shepard Season Earned Media Campaign: Driving Awareness & Demand – 28 March 2025
Each year, the arrival of Shepard Avocados marks an exciting milestone in the Australian produce calendar, sparking conversation among consumers and media alike. This seasonal moment presents a unique opportunity to celebrate the variety’s unique qualities and inspire more Australians to embrace Shepard avocados, experiment with new recipes, and confidently choose them as a delicious and nutritious addition to their shopping baskets.
The earned media campaign has so far been highly successful in positioning Shepard avocados in a positive light through strategic media placements, influencer collaborations, and key partnerships.
A standout highlight of the campaign was our exclusive partnership with Sydney sandwich hotspot, Cross Section. The store offered a limited-edition ‘Shepard Avocado Delight’ sandwich to its customers, promoting the variety’s unique qualities. The recipe was also shared, inspiring Aussies to purchase Shepard avocados and recreate the sandwich at home.
Check out the Shepard Avocado Delight Recipe! 👉 HERE
More than 100 Shepard Avocado Delight sandwiches were sold during the two-week period, and the owners of Cross Section are now considering making the sandwich a permanent menu item during Shepard Avocado season.
The partnership was also attracted strong media attention, with head chefs Josh Said and Brent Wasserman interviewed about their use of Shepard avocados in their popular sandwich, providing an opportunity to highlight key attributes of the variety:
🥑 Creamy, Buttery Texture: Shepard Avocados spread perfectly when ripe, creating a protective layer that keeps bread from going soggy.
🥑 Balanced, Nutty Flavour: Their mild, nutty taste enhances other ingredients without overpowering them.
🥑 Stays Vibrantly Green: Unlike other avocados, Shepard Avocados never turn brown, even when cut, perfect for Instagram-worthy sandwiches.
🥑 Easy to Slice: Their smooth flesh guarantees flawless slices or chunks every time.
📈 Key results and coverage
Overall, the campaign generated significant media traction, with 47 pieces of media coverage, reaching a combined audience of more than 3.3 million. Every story reinforced the campaign’s core message – encouraging more Aussies to give Shepard avocados a go and positioning the fruit as a tasty and versatile ingredient for everyday meals.
Coverage highlights:
- Sitchu promoted the Cross Section partnership and sandwich launch, reaching 1.1 million readers.
- Sydney radio station 2GB interviewed North Queensland Avocado Farmer, Matt Kleyn, talking in a positive light about the Shepard variety’s attributes, its’ differences to Hass, and why people should give it a go. The coverage reached 1.9 million listeners.
- ARN Regional Radio spoke with Cross Section’s owners about the benefits of Shepard avocados, and why they are the ‘official avocado of sandwiches’, reaching 21,000 listeners.
- The ARN interview led to an article being syndicated across 40 of its regional online websites, hero-ing the Shepard and revealing the sandwich recipe with the campaign images. This additional coverage is estimated to have reached over 249,000 people.
The media campaign was further amplified by over 10 pieces of influencer content across both paid partnerships and organic user-generated content from Cross Section customers taking to Instagram and TikTok to shout about the limited-edition Shepard sandwich.
Foodie content creators, including @lil_eets (48.6k followers) and @cheftomwalton (389k followers), also took to their channels in partnership with Australian Avocados to share the Shepard Avocado Delight recipe, generating further buzz around the variety.
More Shepard features to come!
Alongside the online and broadcast coverage secured, top tier print publications have also expressed interest in featuring the Shepard avocado, with upcoming coverage including:
- Better Homes and Gardens – Plan to feature the Shepard in their May issue (out April 11)
- Australian Women’s Weekly – Impressed by the campaign, they are working to secure space in their next issue (out in April).
- Gourmet Traveller – Would like to support the Shepard industry and are eager to cover the variety next season.
Shepard Avocados crowned official avocado for sandwiches – 14 March 2025
Social influencer @lil_eets and Sydney gourmet sandwich masters @crosssectionsyd have partnered with Australian Avocados to create a special bespoke sandwich featuring Shepard Avocados. ‘The Shepard Delight’ is on menus for two weeks from the 3 to 17 March. @Cheftomwalton recreated the recipe at home to show consumers how Shepard Avocados are a tasty and easy addition to your sandwich.
@lil_eets also created a chicken and avocado salad sandwich to inspire consumers to add avocados to their everyday meals.
Follow @AustralianAvocados on Instagram and make sure you share their posts!
Look out for the next issue of Talking Avocados magazine for detailed coverage of the results of the National Avocado Domestic Marketing program!
Go Green Gold results: July to December 2024 – 3 March 2025
Outdoor advertising
From July to December 2024, Australian Avocados leveraged both large-format and retail outdoor advertising to build awareness among consumers and drive purchase intent.
Large format outdoor had two key bursts, aligning with key cultural moments – the Olympics, and King Charles III’s arrival in Australia. Overall, messaging was featured across 61 digital panels across roadsides nationwide.
Complimenting large format, retail outdoor panels provided sustained exposure along the customer path to purchase, running from September to December across 1,854 locations near supermarkets and fresh food grocers.
Collectively, both outdoor formats contributed towards a significant reach of 10.2 million people, exposing 74% of main grocery buyers to the ad at least once across all markets. Over 187 million impressions were also generated in total, reinforcing brand salience.
Digital retail media
Digital ads—including tiles, banners, and page cards—placed on Coles and Woolworths eCommerce sites targeted consumers at key decision-making moments. These ads reached 2.3 million new-to-brand consumers on Coles’ website and 127,000 new-to-brand customers on Woolworths’ site. During the campaign period, digital retail activity directly attributed to $23.3 million in avocado sales across both retailers’ websites.
Social media (paid)
An always-on social media presence from July to December 2024 leveraged a mix of short form videos, branded content, and influencer collaborations. A diverse range of creatives were utilised throughout the campaign period, including Olympic-themed green and gold messaging, recipes, avocado pairings, and influencer-led storytelling. Consistent rotation of creatives showcased the versatility of avocados while preventing creative fatigue. Across Meta and TikTok, over 62 million impressions were generated nationwide, reaching 7.7M and 2.1M users respectively.
Social media (owned)
From October to December, Australian Avocados’ owned Instagram, Facebook and TikTok channels, continued to engage audiences with original content, collectively reaching over 3.4 million people.
The sit-com style video series – The Adventures of Avo, Cado, and Pip- was posted as organic Instagram reels and TikTok videos, with two videos boosted as ads in December, reaching 2.8 million people and generating over 7,000 impressions.
Recipe content shared across influencer Lilian Eets’ TikTok, and the Australian Avocados Instagram, TikTok and Facebook pages, performed well, collectively receiving 12,690 engagements. Content shared on the Australian Avocados Facebook page, generated the greatest reach at over 2.8 million people.
Earned media
Australian Avocados capitalised on key cultural moments to highlight new usage occasions and generate widespread media coverage.
On National Avocado Day, the Corn Chip Safe Guacamole campaign captured the attention of the entire corn chip industry, with major brands responding to the newspaper print ad, helping to expand the reach.
To coincide with King Charles III’s visit to Australia, the royal avocado carriage campaign ran across 16 large-format sites in major eastern seaboard cities. In Sydney alone, the ad reached 1.225 million people (over a quarter of the population), with an average 2.3 exposures per person.
Overall, the campaigns generated 12 pieces of earned news coverage, with a total potential reach of over 5.8 million people.
Go Green Gold campaign steps up for the Shepard season – 31 Jan 2025
Marketing Plans for Shepard Avocado Season
With the Shepard avocado season upon us, the Hort Innovation marketing team are excited to announce the next phase of the Go Green Gold campaign, with creative switching next month to showcase the Shepard variety. Messaging will continue to highlight avocados taste, versatility, and health benefits, while increasing awareness among consumers that Shepard season is here.
To align with the season, activity will go live from week commencing 10 February, continuing through to April.
Paid media
To reach grocery buyers nationwide, activity across paid media includes:
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- Retail screens: Creative will feature on small-format retail panels near supermarkets and large format retail panels in shopping centres, targeting main grocery buyers at key shopping destinations nationwide.
- Retail online: Content will appear across Coles and Woolworths website, including content cards, page banners, and single tiles. These placements will target shoppers browsing the fruit, vegetable, salad, and Mexican food aisles.
- Paid social: Content will feature in-feed and in stories across Meta (Facebook and Instagram), as well as TikTok, inspiring Australians with avocado versatility and recipe ideas.
Earned media
We will launch a ‘heart and mind’ campaign, an earned-led initiative to create positive media coverage, generate buzz, and encourage Australians to embrace the Shepard variety.
Owned media
Building on strong results, we will continue leveraging successful content formats on social media with:
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- Recipe Inspiration content from Lil Eets:
Content creator Lil Eets will share Shepard-avocado specific recipes such as:
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- Shepard avocado, vegemite and cheese melt
- Shepard avocado and dukkah eggs
- Mexican Shepard avocado and corn salad
- Shepard avocado and chicken summer salad.
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- Sitcom content series:
Our popular TikTok and Meta content series ‘The Adventures of Avo, Cado and Pip’ will introduce a new character, Miss Shepard, in an upcoming episode.
Domestic Marketing Results to date Media – 31 Jan 2025
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- Pipcom: Episode one on Meta reached 1.4 million people at an impressive cost-per-thousand (CPM) of $3.09, while on TikTok, it reached over 162k users at a CPM of $3.41.
- Lil Eets: Content creator Lil Eets’ first three videos have achieved remarkable results since October reaching a combined 134 million users on Meta, at a CPM of $3.2, and 250k users on TikTok, at a CPM of $3.11.
All content will be boosted across the quarter with recipe and Pipcom content rotating bi-weekly. By focusing on high-impact content, we aim to maximise reach and engagement opportunities, particularly among light avocado buyers.
Note: Reach combines Australian and international audiences.
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Date Published: 01/01/2025