How research and rebrand has achieved ‘eggsellence’

A rebrand and debunking of a common myth has seen Australian Eggs achieve amazing results in just a year

A comprehensive social media campaign supported by research has made all the difference to Australian Eggs, the not-for-profit industry body supporting egg farmers across Australia. 

In fact, since its rebrand and campaign were launched a year ago, Australians have increased their egg consumption by 14 eggs per year. 

Not bad for an organisation that was not only nearly invisible 18 months ago, but one that also had to combat the pervasive, and incorrect, myth that eggs are bad for heart health. 

Australian Eggs is an industry services body that supports the egg industry. The two pillars of service it provides to egg farmers are research and development anchored in sustainability of the industry, and marketing and communications. 

But to achieve its aim – to increase egg consumption in Australia - what was the old Australian Egg Board had to modernise and rebrand, which it did in April 2017, becoming Australian Eggs. 

It then set about reintroducing Australians to the egg by increasing relevance among growing foodie audiences. The Social media influencer campaign, part of Australian Eggs “Always on” strategy, aimed to inspire Australians to try new egg recipes. 

Rationale 

Before the campaign, Australian Eggs conducted consumer research and found that most egg recipes were anchored in breakfast. Influencers were engaged to reinvent old recipes by putting a twist or modern spin on them. 

Australian Eggs, with the help of agency opr, engaged 20 Insta ‘foodies’ and credible health care professional influencers to create a series of bespoke recipes through cultural moments, topical days, and seasonal campaigns. 

Celebrity chef, Manu Feildel, was also appointed as an Australian Eggs ambassador. Content was shared via influencer channels such as blogs, social media, via paid channels, and on Australian Eggs owned website. 

Australian Eggs marketing and communication manager, Frances Jewell, told CMO Australian Eggs progressed from an underground organisation to building up a brand in the Australian public eye in a year. 

“There have been many layers to how we have approached that rebrand of the organisation. We developed a new logo for the consumer-facing brand. And we embarked on a lot of market research in terms of understanding what consumers know and understand about eggs, what they believe to be true about eggs and the opportunity to encourage people to eat more eggs,” she said. 

The myth 

One of the misnomers many Australians held is that eggs are high in cholesterol and bad for heart health, Jewell explained. 

“That’s a myth we have been trying to bust and there has been a multi-layer strategy for that, starting with healthcare professionals that are strong gatekeepers to what people eat, as influencers. 

“So we’ve been chipping away at that dated perception, and using research to support it. The CSIRO and National Heart Foundation shifted their views as well, which helps the general sentiment that eggs are good for you.” 

Strategy

Three main audiences for Australian Eggs were identified: millennials, household grocery buyers, and baby boomers. 

In terms of marketing, the organisation previously had a very rational and functional approach until the last year. However, Jewell saw the big opportunity is to tap into the more emotive drivers around food and eggs which previously hadn’t been done, using social media. 

“We launched a new campaign at beginning of September to tap into the joy of eggs. We wanted to provide inspiration around how to eat them in new ways, reinventing an old favourite. Influencers play a key role in that,” Jewell says. 

“On World Egg Day (last month), we engaged Manu as our egg ambassador on social media, broadcast media, and print media. He was also a key panellist on the Egg-cellence Awards, where the public nominated their favourite egg dish. Hundreds of recipes were nominated from around the world, and we had a cook-off to judge the winner. 

“Consumer engagement in this way is key. We did a series of influencer and social media to showcase eggs. The research is also ongoing in terms of eggs and human nutrition.” 

Australian Eggs has engaged social media foodies and is getting them to generate a lot of content. 

“Recipe development is a key part of inspiration for us. I already have a formal recipe development, but we are looking for that ‘egg porn’, that oozy egg yolk that makes you salivate, we use influencers play a key role in that,” Jewell told CMO. 

“We are using influencers in their most authentic way. It’s interesting how some people will engage influencers and then try to steer them into something they are not. We take an authentic approach and allow them to be true to themselves, using their creativity and their inspiration to showcase eggs in ways that are out of the ordinary. 

“They’ll come up with a gorgeous visual and bring a layer of creativity into our egg porn to get people thinking differently about eggs. And influencer recipe content out performs everything on social.” 

Facebook and Instagram are the two primary channels, reaching three million users on a regular basis.

“Influencer recipe content performs really well even outside traditional channels, and we take an integrated approach to leverage it through as many channels as possible,” she said. 

“We are also taking an innovative approach to market segmentation, segmenting who we speak to, customising how we speak to them, and reaching them where they are going to see and hear us. 

“Everyone eats eggs, from toddlers to the very elderly. So segmenting the market and tailoring the messages allow us to reach people in a much more targeted away. Social media is relevant to the baby boomer segments, in different ways than it is with millennials, for example. 

“We ensure integration over the entire campaign, from paid ads, to OOH, to digital, and social media, and use influencers to supplement this with an informal approach. LinkedIn is also a key channel. We have researchers as influencers in a targeted way on LinkedIn.

“Even the media approach far more tailored than it used to be. Generally, a paid, earned and owned mix is critical.” 

Results 

Of course, for a not-for-profit funded by farmers and the Government, the campaign budget had to be small. But that hasn’t stopped it from having a big impact. 

“We’ve seen a marked shift in the last 12 months, consumption per capita has grown from 231, to 245 eggs per person per year. We have increased just by segmenting and tailoring the messages and reaching consumers in more meaningful ways. 

“We’ve reinvented the way our marketing campaigns are being taken to market. To have grown by 14 eggs per person per year, that’s more than one per month,” she said. 

Other results include: influencer recipe content outperformed all other Australian Eggs content by 63%, a social reach of three million users, and 70 per cent higher click through rate on influencer related recipe content vs brand owned recipes.

Follow CMO on Twitter: @CMOAustralia, take part in the CMO conversation on LinkedIn: CMO ANZ, join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CMOAustralia, or check us out on Google+:google.com/+CmoAu

 

 

 

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