Matt Moran joins Plus One Serve
One of Australia’s most respected chefs, author and fourth-generation farmer, Matt Moran AM, has been announced as the new Ambassador for the Plus One Serve program, lending his voice to the national campaign encouraging Australians to eat one extra serve of vegetables each day by 2030.
The announcement, made at Hort Connections in Adelaide, marks another milestone for the evidence-based initiative led by AUSVEG and powered by co-investment from Hort Innovation. The program aims to improve the health of Australians while supporting the long-term sustainability of the nation’s vegetable industry.
Mushroom market data
The biannual NielsenIQ Homescan report, which includes the 52 weeks to 19 April 2026, shows Australia’s mushroom sales have seen a steady performance over the past 12 months, with retail volumes growing despite softer shopper participation and ongoing challenges across the fresh produce sector.
Mushroom dollar sales declined marginally by 0.8% year-on-year, while retail volume increased by 1.6%.
By comparison, the overall fresh vegetable category recorded value growth of 3.5% and volume growth of 1.0%. Categories such as tomatoes (+4.2% value, -0.4% volume), broccoli (+4.7% value, +1.5% volume) and sweet potatoes (+9.0% value, +4.6% volume) outperformed mushrooms in terms of value sales growth during the reporting period.
An update on the Australian Mushrooms’ marketing levy investment
As we approach the end of FY26 activity and prepare for the FY27 program, we’re pleased to showcase the activities and strategic priorities shaping our efforts to inspire more Australians to choose and use mushrooms.
This update outlines our focus areas designed to keep Australian Mushrooms top of mind for consumers and drive demand for mushrooms.
Australian Mushrooms Marketing Update: Levy Investment Activities
As we approach the end of FY26 activity and prepare for the FY27 program, we’re pleased to showcase the activities and strategic priorities shaping our efforts to inspire more Australians to choose and use mushrooms.
This update outlines our focus areas designed to keep Australian Mushrooms top of mind for consumers and drive demand for mushrooms.
Launch of the Latest Australian Mushroom Pizza Partnership: A Limited-Edition Winter Pop-Up with 400 Gradi
As part of the FY26 strategic focus on foodservice channel expansion, Australian Mushrooms is teaming up with 400 Gradi for an exclusive winter menu. Expect an innovative menu that reimagines mushrooms as the flavourful frontman, putting mushroom creations centre stage on a range of limited-edition pizzas. From roasted mushroom creams and mushroom pesto bases, 400 Gradi will hero mushrooms at their pizza-topping finest. The takeover is available from 18 June across Gradi's Victorian locations in Brunswick, Crown (Melbourne), Eastland, Essendon, Mildura and Mornington, as well as Norwood in Adelaide.
As a Melbourne institution and nationally acclaimed culinary name, 400 Gradi is renowned for its authentic, award-winning Neapolitan pizzas, crafted by celebrated Chef Johnny Di Francesco.
Johnny Di Francesco wanted to create a menu that showcased mushrooms in unexpected ways.
"Mushrooms are one of the most versatile and flavour-packed ingredients we have in the kitchen. They bring incredible depth, natural umami and a richness that works beautifully on pizza," said Di Francesco.
The pop-up features brand-new mushroom creations, each reimagining the ingredient far beyond the familiar sliced topping.
The ‘Mushroom Delite,’ featuring a comforting roasted mushroom cream base with Fior di Latte, sausage, and crispy garlic chips, delivers a rich and satisfying flavour profile, keeping Melburnians and Adelaideans warm this winter.
The ‘Roasted Mushroom’ layers potato and truffle puree with Fior di Latte, roasted mushrooms, parmesan and parsley oil. Packed with earthy flavours and deep umami notes, the dish is a standout creation that showcases mushrooms at their finest.
Completing the trio and bringing a slice of Euro summer to Aussie winter is the ‘Mushroom Pesto’, which swaps the traditional tomato base for a vibrant mushroom pesto made from roasted mushrooms, parmesan, garlic, pine nuts and olive oil.
The collaboration will come to life in-venue, through social media assets shared across the 400 Gradi Instagram account, with Australian Mushrooms tagged as a collaborator, as well as digital display advertising on the Uber Eats platform. Content will also be amplified across earned media pitching, with the aim to inspire foodservice operators to elevate mushrooms on their menus and reinforce Australian Mushrooms’ position as a leading pizza ingredient.
Looking Ahead: FY27 Mushroom Marketing Plan and Campaign
FY27 Strategy and Marketing Plan
Looking ahead, the FY27 strategy is focused on driving demand through a tighter, more targeted program that builds top-of-mind awareness before purchase, strengthens retail presence and lays the foundations for future growth. With penetration in long-term decline and unprompted intent to buy low, the plan prioritises increasing salience and consideration by heroing the key benefits of mushrooms – particularly taste and health - and reinforcing their role as an easy and versatile ingredient for everyday meals.
The FY27 marketing plan reflects four clear strategic takeaways: increase the focus on health without losing sight of taste and versatility, inspire easy everyday dinner occasions, drive relevance with the next generation of consumers, and do fewer, bigger, better activities.
Read more about the strategy and marketing plan at the MushroomLink Australian Mushroom Marketing Members’ Area.
Optimised Campaign Creative
To increase consumption frequency by giving light and medium buyers stronger reasons to eat mushrooms more often, the existing Mmmmushrooms campaign has been optimised to include prominent health messaging alongside taste benefits. Through the lens of consumer interests and motivating drivers, five key health messages have been selected and will be integrated into the campaign in FY27. The new campaign will come to life across social media, outdoor advertising, broadcast radio, radio partnership with LISTNR and shopper media.
Read more about the optimised campaign creative at the MushroomLink Australian Mushroom Marketing Members’ Area.
Channel Strategy and Block Plan
As we move into FY27, the media strategy and channel plan has been shaped to include:
Winter-first flighting: Delivering our messaging during key supply times, with heavier presence across key winter and shoulder months.
Four paid media channel mix: Selecting best performing channels to optimise FY27 performance and prioritising Shopper as our main always-on channels, with Social, Audio and OOH running across targeted months to maximise delivery in winter and shoulder months.
In-aisle comes first: making sure we show up where we’re most likely to be purchased, focusing on shopper in-aisle and search placements to support organic on-site performance all year round.
The channel mix includes:
Audio:
Utilising an integrated digital audio partnership with LISTNR with deep integrations into popular podcast titles to speak to audiences about the full range of mushroom taste and health benefits.
Branded radio advertising to drive mass reach, driving consideration before point-of-sale.
Retail out-of-home: to build physical market salience towards physical path-to-purchase, triggering strong health and taste-based motivation when consumers are in a decision-making mindset.
Social Media: delivering messaging across TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, to drive top-of-mind awareness and support meal planning across the campaign’s key months.
Shopper media: to prompt grocery buyers at retail (Coles and Woolworths), combatting low unplanned purchase intent by increasing presence at point-of-sale.
Driving Earned media to create brand fame and talkability and lift Australian mushrooms into culture with younger audiences.
Read more about the channel strategy and block plan at the MushroomLink Australian Mushroom Marketing Members’ Area.
Issued on behalf of Hort Innovation: This project is funded by Hort Innovation, using the mushroom marketing levy.
An update on the marketing levy
This update is all about keeping you in the loop as we work to get more Australians using mushrooms more often all year round.
Off the back of a productive Demand SIAP workshop, we’re eager to provide an update and insights into Australian Mushrooms’ marketing activity – highlighting how we’re building momentum going into autumn and winter where driving demand is key and outlining where our focus lies for the rest of FY26 and beyond as we move into FY27.
Shoppers say Mmm to mushrooms
Inside the success of the first round of the FY26 in-store sampling campaign
Over three bustling weeks between August and September, the aroma of sautéing mushrooms drifted through supermarkets across the country. It was part of Australian Mushrooms’ first in-store sampling burst for FY26, an activation designed to show shoppers just how easy, versatile and delicious mushrooms can be.
Across 149 sessions in Coles, Woolworths and independent retailers, more than 18,000 shoppers stopped to chat, taste and rediscover a familiar ingredient. What followed was an encouraging display of consumer curiosity, enthusiasm and genuine inspiration
Mushroom marketing update Spring 2025
The Australian mushroom industry is operating in a changing marketplace, with shoppers tightening household budgets. However, consumer research shows that mushrooms continue to be recognised for their taste, versatility, and health benefits. These strengths that can be amplified with the right investment.
Through the mushroom marketing levy, the industry has committed to a bold, multi-channel marketing program for 2025–26. The aim is simple: keep mushrooms top of mind for Australians and ensure consumers see mushrooms as a ‘must have’ on their weekly shopping list.
For growers, understanding this plan is vital. Not only does it demonstrate how levy funds are being invested, but it also highlights when and where promotional activity will peak, all valuable information for aligning supply, planning promotions, and anticipating consumer demand.
Australian Mushrooms Sampling Program Boosts Sales and Consumer Engagement
Hort Innovation Marketing Update March 2025
The Australian Mushrooms in-store sampling program is in full swing, delivering impressive results and encouraging more shoppers to regularly add mushrooms to their meals. Running across Woolworths, Coles, and independent retailers nationwide, the program aims to inspire new ways to cook with mushrooms and increase consumption
Building on the success of the 2023 program, which conducted over 1,300 sampling sessions and successfully converted 71 per cent of participants to purchase mushrooms, the 2024/25 program is already making a positive impact.
Sessions are being conducted in four major bursts, incorporating two summer and two winter recipes – these include:
· Thai Pork Mushroom Meatballs (Winter)
· Tapas Style Garlic Mushrooms (Summer)
· Lemon and Herb Mushroom Bruschetta (Summer)
· Mushroom Bolognese (Winter)
Burst one – April to August 2024
In burst one, 331 sampling sessions were conducted in Coles and Woolworths stores across NSW, VIC, QLD, SA, and WA, handing out an average of 88 Thai Pork and Mushroom Meatball samples per session. Engagement was strong, with 71 per cent of shoppers that interacted with sampling staff choosing to try a sample. Sales performance was equally as impressive, with 12kg of loose mushrooms and 20 pre-packed mushrooms sold on average per session.
Burst two – November 2024 to February 2025
The second burst of the sampling program saw over 17,500 Tapas-Style Garlic Mushroom samples distributed across Woolworths, Coles, and independent supermarkets nationwide. Sampling staff interacted with shoppers on average 125 times per session, with 70% converting to trying a sample. Sales results remained strong, with an average of 12.2kg of loose mushrooms and 25.8 pre-packed mushrooms sold per sampling session. In total, 201 sessions were completed during this burst, providing plenty of opportunities for shoppers to experience the delicious, rich flavour of Australian Mushrooms.
Upcoming sampling sessions
The third burst of the program is currently live, featuring Lemon and Herb Mushroom Bruschetta in 459 Woolworths, Coles, and Independent stores across NSW, VIC, QLD, SA, and WA until April. As the program progresses, the fourth burst will launch from April to June 2025, shifting to a Mushroom Bolognese recipe and targeting 330 Woolworths, Coles and Independent stores nationwide.
With each burst, the program continues to demonstrate the power of sampling in boosting mushroom sales and consumer engagement. Stay tuned for more updates on its success!
Nielsen report November 2024
The latest mushrooms comprehensive review by Nielsen has been released, which covers the 52 weeks to October 6 and is available on the Hort IQ site (not a member yet – sign up here)
https://www.hortiq.com.au/resource/?resourceNumber=HIQ0000179.
Alternatively, these can also be found on Harvest to Home site: https://www.harvesttohome.net.au/fruitmushroomnuts/case-studies/comprehensive-reviews.
Some key findings:
Mushroom value and volume sales have declined this year at –2.6% and –2.3% respectively, with price per kilo remaining the highest at $13.22 this year.
All consumer metrics are trending down for mushrooms this year, with no obvious trigger driving declining value sales.
Price increases are driving the growth across the competitive set.
The number of households buying mushrooms online remains stable this year, there are however less shoppers buying in-store.
Sales for loose mushrooms are slightly growing this year, while pre-packed mushrooms are in in decline.
The next report will be updated in May 2025.
Australian Mushrooms FY25 Marketing Strategy
Monique Emmi, Marketing Manager at Hort Innovation, presented the key facts that informed the FY25 marketing strategy and the pillars that are the focus of the up-coming marketing plan.
Other resources
MmmmMushrooms – Australian Mushrooms New Campaign Launch
Hort Innovation and agency Thinkerbell are excited to showcase the new campaign for Australian Mushrooms ‘MmmmMushrooms’. In this webinar, they will explore the current media landscape, how they plan within it and what the media recommendation looks like. They will then talk you through the marketing strategy, creative idea and give you a preview of how the campaign will come to life in market.
Cost of living, consumer behaviour and the implications for the mushroom category
Hort Innovation's Consumer Insights Manager Wendy Hubbard speaks on the cost of living, mushroom category performance, consumer behaviour and the implications for the mushroom industry.
Wendy is a seasoned insights professional with over two decades of experience in the consumer insights industry. Her expertise lies in identifying opportunities and challenges using multiple data sets and transforming these insights into compelling narratives that drive business growth.
She is currently the Insights Manager at Hort Innovation, where she manages consumer insights initiatives for the Australian horticulture industry.
Miguel Maestre radio spots
Miguel Maestre - aka the crazy bull - is enthusiastically promoting mushrooms on radio. The marketing team at Hort Innovation recently recorded the segments, which will be broadcast across Australia.
Listen to the six segments below.
Marketing activity aplenty
Off the back of a successful marketing campaign from July to September, the Hort Innovation marketing team is now overseeing the roll-out of activities for the remainder of this calendar year.
The FY24 quarter one campaign – involving radio, outdoor advertising panels, social media, shopper communications and a sampling program – aimed to inspire people to consume more mushrooms daily, by adding the Mighty Mushie to everyday meals.
Results from that campaign included:
· Metro and regional outdoor advertising reaching 3,707,367 adult grocery buyers
· Radio advertising reaching 3,581,474 adult grocery buyers
· Social media advertising reaching 8,419,254 adult grocery buyers
· Interim results for shopper communications (August only) showing the Woolworths campaign brought 24,000 ‘new to brand’ customers, generating $72,500 in sales during the campaign period.
The FY24 quarter two (October-December) integrated campaign is now well underway, involving radio, outdoor advertising, online shopper communications, social media and public relations activities.
Central to the current campaign is the creative idea of ‘Reinvent the Meal’ which brings to life the brand truth that ‘mighty Mushrooms can add a whole lot more flavour to ordinary meals’.
New recipes and visual assets are being unveiled throughout the campaign period to showcase delicious everyday meals and to inspire consumers to cook with mushrooms.
Celebrity chef Miguel Maestre is also taking centre stage during the campaign, having already headlined the Mushroom Festival in Melbourne, crossing live from Costa Mushrooms in Victoria and cooking a delicious recipe for the Studio 10 television program, and generally promoting mushroom month in October.
The summer edition of MushroomLink magazine will contain more information about all the mushroom marketing activities and achievements.
Meat trays get a mushroom makeover
Meat raffles are a cultural icon in many Australian pubs and clubs but in April the traditional raffle was turned on its head.
Hort Innovation, through the mushroom marketing fund, partnered with Australian Mushrooms to launch what is believed to be the world’s first Mushie Meat Tray. Complete with butcher-quality cuts of portobellos, buttons, flats and cups, alongside the usual sausages and steaks, this is the flexitarianism meets Aussie pub culture at its finest.
Former rugby league footballer, television presenter and RSL club enthusiast Beau Ryan launched the Mushie Meat Tray at the Canterbury-Hurlstone Park RSL Club in Sydney.
Patrons on the night enjoyed mushroom-inspired versions of classic Aussie dishes, including mushroom parmigiana, mushroom risotto, and mushroom burgers. Combined meat and mushroom - or mushroom only - trays (25 in total) were raffled on the night.
Hort Innovation marketing manager, Emma Day, said research had revealed that more than 70% of Australians head to their local RSL for their chance to win the meat raffle and more than a quarter of Australians would much rather win an RSL meat tray than go surfing at Bondi Beach.
The team behind the campaign are delighted with the media buzz surrounding the event.
“To date, we have secured more than 100 pieces of coverage, providing more than 60 million opportunities to reach Australians,” Ms Day said.
“We received coverage on platforms and in publications such as News.com.au (Australia’s leading news site), Sunrise (Australia’s number one TV breakfast show) and Man of Many (Australia's largest men's lifestyle site). We also secured an interview with Australian Mushrooms grower Chris Tolson, with the North Queensland Register piece syndicated across six titles.
“On launch day, we secured an opportunity with breakfast TV show Sunrise. During the five minute live cross from the Canterbury RSL, Beau Ryan explained what the Mushie Meat Tray was, talked to our key messaging and mentioned Australian Mushrooms on multiple occasions. The clip syndicated 44 times nationally.
“To further drive our social media presence, we launched an Instagram competition to encourage different community groups to apply to win their very own Mushie Meat Trays. To enter, fans had to comment on why they thought their community group deserved to win trays to auction off. This garnered more than 700 entries.”
The trays are now set to be rolled out nationwide, with Australian Mushrooms launching a toolkit to help RSL clubs create their own take on the Mushie Meat Tray, and RSL clubs in both Queensland and Victoria have answered the call.
Over 70,000 shoppers engaged during in store sampling program
The Mushroom In-Store Sampling Program (MU21503) has reached over 70,000 shoppers in supermarkets across the nation. The program, conducted throughout 2022, has delivered important insights into consumer attitudes, which will help inform future marketing strategies.
The program, funded by Hort Innovation through the mushroom marketing levy, aimed at increasing the domestic demand for Australian mushrooms. With close to 50,000 samples consumed during the campaign period, and more than 70,000 shoppers exposed at 617 stores across the nation, the data provides a reliable information into current drivers and barriers to purchase.
Taste (58 per cent) and versatility (31 per cent) are the dominant factors that made mushrooms appealing to customers. Texture (seven per cent) and price (three per cent) were other factors influencing purchase of mushrooms.
Conversely, price (40 per cent) and a dislike for mushrooms (21 per cent) were the main factors deterring mushroom purchase and consumption among those customers who were questioned.
Twenty per cent of customers questioned during the campaign, which ran from August to December 2022, indicated that they were not deterred from purchasing mushrooms by any factors.
The Mushroom In-Store Sampling Program was endorsed by the Mushroom SIAP to drive category growth with point of purchase conversion by inspiring shoppers with delicious and easy mushroom recipes to taste while in store.
“How do we inspire consumers to consider and use mushrooms more often?”
With 49 per cent of Australian households deciding on their dinner menu last minute (an all-time high), the campaign took the opportunity to remind shoppers that mushrooms would make a great dinner idea. The campaign took place on the busiest retailer days of the week and timeframes for greatest impact.
To maximise any benefit from impulse purchasing, promoting an inspiring recipe – together with other messages around versatility - was recognised as key.
The campaign aimed to:
Increase awareness of versatility of mushrooms by promoting healthy eating without the hassle
Encourage trial purchase of Aussie Mushrooms
Communicate versatility, ‘blendability’, usage scenarios and hand out recipe leaflets
Communicate key selling messages
Highlight where the products can be located in-store
Encourage customers to buy directly from the promotional table
Leave customers with a positive brand experience.
The campaign involved static in-store sampling through which shoppers were invited to taste two mushroom recipes – vegetarian meatballs and mushroom mini-toast – which were prepared and sampled in-store by Australian mushroom brand ambassadors.
Vegetarian meatballs were chosen as a popular family meal that taps into the growing trend for people to reduce the amount of meat in their diets. The mushrooms on toast recipe aligns with the AMGA-run Café Culture foodservice campaign, #mymushroomtoast.
A total of 68% of shoppers interacted with were converted into trying a sample, with 52% indicating that they intended to buy the product after consuming a sample.
More than 12,000 manually counted units of pre-packaged mushroom products were sold during this period, in addition to 5624 kilograms of loose mushrooms.
Northbridge (NSW), Marrickville (NSW), Gordon (NSW) and Springwood (Qld) were among the highest sampled stores.
Jamison (ACT), Blacktown (NSW) and Dapto (NSW) recorded the highest pre-packed sales. Dickson (ACT), Heidelberg (Vic) and Dee Why (NSW) recorded the highest loose sales.
Other topline insights from the campaign included:
75% of customers thought about the product prior to trial
Consumers were very receptive to sampling the products and the majority of customers spoke favourably of mushrooms as a vegetarian option at mealtimes
The aroma of garlic and mushrooms throughout the store encouraged sampling
Promotional materials with a QR code link to the recipes provided a significant talking point and caught the attention of many samplers
Brand ambassadors reported that some samplers shared that they would be buying all ingredients to make the meatballs or mini toast for themselves and/or their family
In terms of negative feedback, the most common barriers to sampling were customers who did not like mushrooms or those allergic to mushrooms.
Due to the success of the 2022 program, the Mushroom SIAP has endorsed another round of sampling in the second half of FY23, starting in March.
This article was originally published in the MushroomLink magazine issue 04 (28 March 2023). Click here to view the full publication.
Marketing update – mushroom in-store sampling
When it comes to planning dinner, nearly half of Australian cooks are last minute Larrys, providing the perfect opportunity to remind shoppers of the wonders of mushrooms as they do their dinner shopping.
With this key statistic in mind, the Hort Innovation marketing team developed the Mushroom In-Store Sampling Program.
Capitalising on the prevalence of impulse buyers in Australian supermarkets, mushroom ambassadors were at the ready to inspire eager shoppers with mouth-watering aromas, delicious tasting samples, and simple recipes to cook at home that night.
The in-store sampling, part of the levy-funded MU21503 project, was endorsed by the Mushroom SIAP to drive category growth with point of purchase conversion by inspiring shoppers with easy mushroom recipes to taste while in store.
The overall objective of the campaign is to contribute towards the FY22 Australian Mushrooms Brand vision to push long term domestic growth for the mushroom category.
The initiative is part of an effort to make Australian mushrooms a staple ingredient in the Australian home by driving increased consideration and frequency of purchase, and answer the underlying question:
“How do we inspire consumers to consider and use mushrooms more often?”
Emma Day, marketing manager at Hort innovation, explains that this initiative is part of a four pillar plan that underpins the mushroom marketing strategy (see MushroomLink, Issue 1 Winter 2022, page 19 for the full marketing strategy).
“This project is part of our Pillar 3 Win in Retail, which aims to increase the visibility of mushrooms in retail settings,” she said.
“In addition to in-store sampling, other elements of Pillar 3 include in-store advertising, online shopping advertising and out of home (OoH) advertising panels on the path to purchase, i.e., close to, or inside of, retail stores.
“As the project runs until the end of the year, we are still collecting data, but customer feedback has been very positive,” Emma added.
The in-store sampling program (10am-2pm) and (3pm-7pm) ran across the country (except Northern Territory) in Woolworths and Coles stores. Demonstration tables, branded with Australian mushrooms imagery, also contained additional marketing collateral including business cards and a QR code linked to the Australian Mushrooms website for more mushroom recipes.
Australian Mushroom Brand Ambassadors prepared two recipes, namely vegetarian ‘meatballs’ and mushroom mini toast. Australian families love meatballs, and this vegetarian version taps into the growing trend for people to reduce the amount of meat in their diets.
The mushrooms on toast recipe aligns with the AMGA-run Café Culture foodservice campaign, #mymushroomtoast, recently won by the Guyala Café in Cairns.
A total of 276 in-store sampling sessions have been completed thus far, with sessions ramping up toward Christmas to complete 600 in total by end of 2022.
The current results are as follows:
Total samples: 23,736
Total interactions: 32,568
Average samples per session: 86 (Target: 80)
Average interactions per session: 118 (Target: 115)
Customer feedback suggests that they love the vegetarian options and the aroma of the garlic and mushrooms throughout the store, which encourages tasting. The business and stand-up cards have been very successful as many samplers are interested in the recipes for the meatballs and mini toasts.
Brand Ambassadors have also been encouraging samplers to look through the “recipes” tab to view these recipes and many others, which highlight the versatility of mushrooms. This has been a key talking point among all sessions.
This article was originally published in the MushroomLink magazine Issue 03 (December 2022). Click here to view the publication.
Collaborative Marketing Workshop with the Mushroom Industry
By Emma Day, Marketing Manager HIA
Hort Innovation’s commitment to working more closely with the mushroom industry in matters relating to marketing came to realisation in early September, with the first co-design workshop. Earlier in the year the AMGA were invited to identify three to four industry representatives to be a part of the co-design panel.
The outcomes of the workshop will inform the development of evidence-based marketing strategies for 23-26, and an annual marketing investment plan for F23, ensuring that these plans are built on robust analysis, contain actions that clearly link to demand creation and facilitate transparent measurement and evaluation of actions and impact.
The workshops took place in Sydney, with representatives from the Mushroom Industry joining HIA Marketing, Data and Insights, and Industry Strategic Partnership personnel for two busy and productive days to jointly develop the marketing plans. The workshops were run by Jane Smith and Kylie Hudson, General Managers Marketing, with presentations from many of the HIA Mushroom team.
The Mushroom Industry was represented by Leah Bramich, GM AMGA, Kyle Davies, Marland Mushrooms, Georgia Beattie, Bulla Park, Tim Archibald, White Prince, with apologies from Elisa Siliato from Costa.
Day One focused on a big data download and share. Presentations were given on the broader market context of consumer’s lives, industry feedback on important issues, the retail and trading environment in which we all operate, the consumer and shopper, needs and occasions, and a FY22 activity evaluation. As a group we then prioritised our learnings and implications and agreed on the focus for our plan and who we should target.
Day Two we regrouped and then defined the big shifts required from consumers to grow the Mushroom category and set our vision and goals according to what our category would stand for in the minds of consumers. With clear objectives, we could define the key strategic pillars which will underpin the activities arising from this marketing plan.
A brainstorming session resulted in a detailed one-year plan, as well as a more future-looking horizon plan. This was followed by the business of budgeting and how we might allocate the marketing funds for year one.
With all this valuable input, the HIA marketing team will now create the detail of the plan around our agreed vision, goals, and strategic pillars. The plan will be presented to the SIAP on 20 September for approval.
In the meantime, the first part of the plan details the 12 key facts gained from the data download on day one. These insights are the key pieces of data that drove our decision making as a team, and we thought worth sharing with the industry.
My Mushroom Toast
The #MyMushroomToast campaign is up and running! And to celebrate the launch, media and foodie influencers were invited to a #MyMushroomToast cooking masterclass hosted by internationally known chef Jason Roberts.
Early in September, foodie social media influencers - with a combined following of over 255K - and reps from top-tier media outlets including Delicious, Taste and Eativity met in Sydney’s Fish Markets Cooking School to learn how to cook, prep and experiment with the Mighty Mushie.
Attendees cooked two delicious #MyMushroomToast dishes - Miso Butter Mushrooms and Cavolo Nero on Toasted Ciabatta and Balsamic Mushrooms on Sourdough Toast with Blistered Cherry Tomatoes, Feta and Basil Oil. By working through the recipes together, the budding mushroom advocates learnt how quick and easy it is to prep and cook with mushrooms.
To ensure maximum amplification of the event, the Hort Innovation marketing team worked with their production crew to capture extra imagery and video footage. These resources will be used throughout Australian Mushrooms’ social channels and other PR Initiatives.
Following the mushroom cooking class, Jason Roberts and Leah Bramich ran a Q&A with attendees. They answered questions and gave insight around the numerous nutritional benefits of mushrooms, the distinct umami flavour profile, and interesting facts around how mushrooms grow in a sustainable way.
The event was a great success with attendees really engaging with this most versatile of ingredients.
We are looking forward to following the #MyMushrroomToast hashtag over the next couple of months to see everyone’s culinary creations.
To encourage Aussie cafés to hero mushrooms in more dishes, Australian Mushrooms is running a competition from September to October to determine the best #MyMushroomToast, with a major prize incentive to the café that produces Australia’s Best Mushrooms on Toast dish. To read more about this initiative, see page 25 of the winter edition of MushroomLink, Mushrooms on Toast Set to Infiltrate Café Culture.
The video footage of the event can be viewed at australianmushrooms.com.au/foodservice or scan the QR code.
Australian Mushrooms Marketing Rebooted
The marketing team at Hort Innovation has developed a new approach to the Marketing Planning Process through close collaboration with industry.
This fresh approach for the FY23, presented in September 2021 by Hort Innovation General Managers of Marketing Jane Smith and Kylie Hudson, laid out a commitment to foster better working relationships with growers and peak industry bodies.
Read all about these initiatives in the first issue of the MushroomLink magazine