The Blend for Everyday Eating – 2024 Campaign Launches

AMGA Members Update

Anthony Leddin

The AMGA's Mushrooms + Mince = The Blend campaign has launched.

The focus for this year is on "The Blend for Everyday Eating” and will help ensure mushrooms are top of mind for everyday meaty meals, ensuring the relevancy all throughout the year, as we have identified the need to extend (or creep) our higher volume seasonal periods.

The Blend is a $125,000 campaign, separate to the marketing initiatives of Hort Innovation. This year’s campaign has been co-funded by the AMGA ($100,000) and Hort Innovation ($25,000).

The Blend – Campaign Overview

The 2024 Blend campaign is designed to enhance the momentum from last year's campaign and continue to educate Australian consumers about the concept of substituting minced meat for finely diced mushrooms, in our everyday meaty meals. By substituting mince for mushrooms, meals are more cost effective (comparative to the cost of mince), more sustainable, and more delicious.

The campaign is targeted in particular to educate families and seniors about health benefits of using a mushroom + mince blend.

The objective is to increase consumers purchase intent for mushrooms, with the ultimate goal for mushrooms to be considered as an essential ingredient to make all your favourite minced meat dishes taste better and be more nutritious. This will be delivered via a focus on:

  • Substituting minced meat for mushrooms. Mushrooms + Mince = The Blend
  • Leveraging meat reducers, inspire families into category and provide another way high mushroom users can consume on one more meal occasion.
  • Emphasising nutritional benefits and better taste.
  • Inspiring with blended recipes to show ease of adding mushrooms to any minced meat meal

Emphasising the cost savings of mushrooms vs mince.

Campaign Highlights:

Along with a robust digital marketing and PR strategy, the 2024 omni-channel campaign features an exciting competition for mass reach, partnerships with digital outlets, an Aldi on-pack sticker promotion, refreshed website and new Blenditarian recipes, and thanks to Hort Innovations additional funding, an extensive influencer engagement campaign.

Here are some of the most exciting campaign highlights to look out for:

1. Scan to Win a $5000 Kitchen Makeover:

This competition is designed to capture the attention of home cooks, to enter to win a $5,000 Kitchen Makeover (with five $250 gift cards for runners up).

To be in the draw to win, entrants will click am online link or scan a QR code instore, and tell us in 25 words or less which is their favourite Blenditarian recipe.

Once completed, entrants will be taken on an educational journey via email and social media retargeting, to ensure they understand the benefits of the Mushroom + Mince = The Blend cooking technique, and are inspired with delicious, blended recipes.

2. Aldi On pack stickers

Partnering with key growers who supply Aldi supermarkets nationwide, 675,000 stickers will be applied to white and brown mushroom punnets, promoting the Scan to Win competition. Last year 2,695 Stickers were scanned via specially marked Aldi mushroom packs, and we are hoping for a greater uptake this year.

3. ‘A Better Choice’ Marketing Partnership

Partnering with A Better Choice we will reach independent grower networks and consumers in a partnership package that includes:

  • In-store activations of 50 Retail Stores Total (NSW, VIC and SA)
    • Activation includes installation and reporting of on-shelf POS items including shelf wobblers, recipe cards, A3 posters.
    • Includes Print and distribution of POS items
  • 2 x Mushroom Retail Store Cooking Events (VIC, SA) – with Celebrity chef Callum Hann
    • A better choice! Sampling Staff Member in attendance
    • Boosting of 3 x Social Media Posts
  • Consumer Magazine Advertising
    • 1 x 5-Page Section in Autumn
  • Trade communications
    • 4 x EDM Features to all A better choice! Retailers
    • 2 x EDM Features in Central Market EDM’s
  • Consumer Communications
    • 8 x Banners Ads in Weekly Consumer EDM
    • 7 x Supporting Recipes in Consumer EDM
  • Social Media & Website
    • Social Media Feature Week
    • 14 x Mushroom Social Media Posts
    • All recipes loaded to ABC Website

 4. Dr. Emma Beckett interview on Australia’s #1 Parenting Podcast

Embracing the podcast phenomenon for busy Aussie parents, Dr Emma Becket, Australian mushroom nutrition scientist from FoodIQ Global, will be interviewed on Australia’s #1 Parenting Podcast Beyond the Bump, to talk about mushrooms important role in children’s nutrition, and how adopting The Blend as a ‘stealth health’ way to reduce meat intake and boost the nutritional value of everyday meaty meals, that kids will LOVE to eat.

 

5. Influencer Marketing –

Targeting foodies, parents and budget conscious consumers, we have locked in some of Australia’s favourite content creators such as @cookingwithalisha @danroberts and @thefoodarrondissemen – who will be creating content across platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. Our aim for this tactic is mass engagement with mass uptake. We want the combined audiences to feel so inspired by the content that they head over to our Blenditarian website, find a recipe and cook it for their family that day!

Other campaign features include:

  • Updated website www.blenditarian.com.au
  • Competition PR strategy
  • Nutritional PR strategy with AMGA Dietitian Jane Freeman
  • Marketing partnership with ‘A Better Choice’ to reach independent grower networks and consumers
  • A hefty Digital Marketing strategy, including:
    • Social ads
    • Google ads and re-marketing
    • Existing 50,000 Mushroom Lovers and Blenditarian database re-engaged
    • Educational email marketing journey
    • New Blenditarian Recipes

Please keep an eye out for a full campaign update via email and in the Winter edition of the AMGA Journal.