Results and Effectiveness

The I’m A Pecan Fan Facebook page grew from 1,275 fans to more than 5,000 over a six month period, and increased user engagement by 40 per cent. The Mum Bloggers had 100 per cent positive feedback about the Pecan Facial Masks, posting about their experience to more than 30,000 readers, and sharing on Facebook and Twitter. Pecan sales have also increased year to year, with the only change in marketing being the creation of the Pecan Fan brand.

Creative Execution

The campaign aimed to make pecans instantly identifiable with the creation of a quirky brand, and work with social influencers within the target demographic to experience pecans in an unusual and creative way in order to make them memorable. Building on the I’m a Pecan Fan social presence on Facebook established in the previous phase of the campaign, in addition to demonstrating the use and versatility of pecan nuts, encouraging trials and educating consumers on the benefits of the pecan and running giveaways, the “Pecan Man” was used to reflect current pop culture happenings and ask for suggestions of how the “Pecan Man” should appear next. Fan suggestions included • Pecanye West • Pecan Obama Blogger outreach was also conducted to three prominent Mum Bloggers, providing Eco Friendly Pecan Facial Mask Kits to trial and giveaway to their readers.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

Research conducted by Horticulture Australia found there was a three per cent unprompted recall for pecans, and two per cent of Main Grocery Buyers (MGBs) buy pecans fortnightly. Stahmann Farms We needed to develop an appealing consumer-oriented campaign which would raise the profile of pecans. Creating a brand and educating consumers would make pecans more identifiable. Porter Novelli centered its campaign on the development of a pecan brand “I’m a Pecan Fan” in Phase One, and then took it to the next level by creating an animated character the “Pecan Man”. The campaign aimed to educate consumers on the health benefits of pecan nuts, position pecan nuts as a desirable purchase to make and develop a ‘Pecan Fan’ following via social media. Australia is home to the world’s biggest social media user community with more than 80 per cent of Australians online.