Iunderstandthe next three-year Australian mango marketing plan is in the works. Any details you can provide on what we canexpect over the next three years?
Craig Perring: Consumer research conducted in early 2017 highlighted that the strategy we have adopted over the last three years has been successful. The current research shows that the strategy employed will continue to drive the mango industry forward in terms of sales and working with retailers, which, ultimately, will provide consumers with the best mango experience during the season.
Part of our campaign will continue to focus around the following events including our PR programme this year will be centred around a new hashtag – #200daysofmangoes. There are approximately 200 days in the mango season, so we’ll feature the hashtag at every possible touchpoint across press office, social media and the Mess-tival event, prompting acknowledgement of the short mango season and the endless possibilities that the mango brings. Every time the consumer sees a piece of content, our goal is for them to also see the hashtag, providing an instant dual-meaning key message and a trackable result.
We’re also running events, such as the Mango Auction at Brisbane Markets on 5 October to launch the mango season, and the Mango Mess-tival – our showcase event for the season held at North Bondi Surf Life Saving Club on the first Sunday of Summer – 3 December. The event will have grower stalls, sampling, smoothie bike, mango eating competitions, the famous fruit carver and plenty of music.
Whatrole will social media play during the six-month campaign?
CP:Social media plays a key part of consumers’ purchasing decisions, hence our social media campaign on Facebook and Instagram is always on. We will be bringing consumers along on the mango journey through each growing regions harvest, we will also be sharing new recipes, tips and tricks and competitions for consumers to win trays of delicious mangoes and of course our #200daysofmango will be weaved through all content.
You’ve just come back from the Mango Roadshow in the Northern Territory. What did this entail?
CP: The Mango Roadshow happened in Katherine on 15 August and we had 45 people attend of which 90 per cent were growers. The Darwin roadshow was held on 16 August and 55 people attended, again where grower numbers were approximately 90 per cent. Hort Innovation and the Australian Mango Industry Association (AMIA) worked together to present some milestones from the previous campaign and informed growers of the marketing campaign for the current season. Roadshows will also be held in other growing regions including Far North and South East Queensland in September as their season get underway.
And are we any closer to getting amango emoji?
CP: We sure are. The #mangoemojiplease has had some serious traction towards achieving its objective! The Emoji Subcommittee is recommending a list of 67 new emoji characters as draft candidates, of which the mango emoji is one. The final list of new emoji’s will be decided at the Unicode Technical Committee in the last quarter of 2017. With the approved emoji’s being released in June, 2018. There are limitations on the number of emoji encoded each year and it is great for the mango emoji to be considered and highlights the success of the #mangoemojiplease.
