THE campaign behind a mandarin that looks somewhat like a Japanese sumo wrestler won the 2016 Marketer of the Year Award at the Produce Marketing Association’s Fresh Connections.
Freshmax's Sumo Citrus campaign was given the top gong ahead of the other four finalists at the gala dinner held at Brisbane City Hall last week.
The 2015 Sumo Citrus campaign was recognised for its innovative design and execution, reaching a diverse audience of more than 1.5 million Australians in just six weeks.
Sumo Citrus is a proprietary brand of citrus fruit. The variety originates from Japan and was first commercialised in the US.
Freshmax is the sole licensed Marketer for the brand in the AU and NZ markets, and is heavily involved in the management and support of the entire supply chain and grower group.
Freshmax marketing manager Matthew Crouch accepted the award on the night, saying marketing within produce offers so many roads unexplored.
"I am just pleased to be able to go out there and chase what I am passionate about," he said.
Unsatisfied with a purely "healthy eating habits" brand message, Mr Crouch took the campaign to consumers on a social issues level, working with Collier Creative to develop a short animation in support of the Bully Zero Australia Foundation.
By partnering with Gravia Media, he was also able to turn the usually inaccessibly expensive mainstream media channels to his advantage, running television and radio campaigns in regional and metro areas across two states.
A final and particularly special piece to the campaign was the delivery of a food blogger competition through the engagement of Flourish PR, that not only delivered a complete back catalogue of recipes and ambassadors for the brand but did so at a fraction of the cost such a venture would traditionally incur.
"Ready Steady Sumo [the competition] had been idea of mine for some time but it wasn’t until Lauren [Redpath] and the team at Flourish jumped at it, that it really took off, and they did a superb job," Mr Crouch said.
In his acceptance speech, Mr Croch gave recognition to the entire supply chain and encouraged marketing minds across the industry to push harder to explore new and different channels.
“There are good ways and bad ways to deliver marketing, the only way to find out which ones work for you, is to try them”.
He also paid tribute to exclusive retail partner, Woolworths.
“Working with Freshmax to help bring Sumo Citrus Mandarins to the attention of Aussie consumers is really important to Woolworths,” Woolworths national buyer Cara Reynolds said.
“We enjoy working with Matt and Will (Snell) and love that they keep challenging the norm and exploring different ways to promote this unique and delicious piece of fruit.”
The other finalists were:
- Natalie Bell, Mountain Blue Farms for its ‘Eureka– rise and shine with Australia’s new blues’ campaign;
- Graham Adams, HM Clause Pacific for the campaign to raise awareness and promote the Jamaica and Rosada melon varieties in Australia;
- John Foster, Montague Fresh Queensland and Mike Evans of Fresh Partners, who developed and launched Somomo, the brand designed to bring exotic fruit into the mainstream;
- Lucy Gregg, Reid Fruits team, for the Gold Kangaroo marketing and sales strategy to increase cherry sales.
