‘Free range’ is the the most popular egg category in Australia, making up 47% of total retail sales. Everyday consumers automatically buy ‘Free Range’ eggs because they believe this to be the ethical choice. What consumers don’t realise, is that the ‘Free Range’ label is used by egg farms with up to 10,000 chickens per hectare.

At Honest Eggs Co. we only have 30 chickens per hectare. Our method of regenerative farming is less wasteful, reduces stress on the land, and is a lot better for the chickens. We just needed more people to know the story behind our eggs.

Our key objective was to bring honesty to the egg industry. We set out to accomplish this by innovating our product to increase our customer base and boost stockists.

We needed to set ourselves apart from our competitors. Our strategy was simple, be honest and show consumers how free and healthy the chickens are on our regenerative farms.

To do this, we innovated our core production process to carry an important message directly from the farm to the supermarket shelf.

First, we started by designing ‘FitChix’ - a custom made step counter for a chicken. This new piece of technology was made from hen-friendly materials with customised software and GPS tracking. Each week the device is put on a small number of chickens to track their movements as they roam around our farms.

For regulatory traceability, every egg on Australian shelves has a printed farm code. So to deliver our message we switched this code with the step counts of our chickens using the existing printing process. The ‘eggs with steps’ were delivered to 350+ stores nationwide.

Instead of just ‘telling’ consumers how free our chickens are like thousands of other egg brands, we ‘showed’ them with real data from our farms. In doing so, the egg, a product that hasn’t changed since it was, well, first laid, now has an entirely new functionality before it gets eaten.

The 'FitChix' campaign not only positively impacts Honest Eggs Co., it empowers consumers and farmers to change the egg industry for good.

CONSUMER IMPACT

The ‘eggs with steps’ gives consumers a tangible metric. Now when they go shopping for eggs, they can look past all the vague and misleading labels and make a more informed decision at the point-of-purchase.

INDUSTRY IMPACT

Our ‘eggs with steps’ were first delivered to 350+ stores across Australia and in doing so has changed perception about regenerative farming nationwide. Since then, one of the two largest supermarkets in Australia reached out to discuss how Honest Eggs Co. can spearhead their regenerative range.

The tracking and printing of steps now remain a permanent feature of the production process at Honest Eggs Co.

Our goal for this campaign was to share the Honest Eggs Co. brand story and show customers and stockists how free and healthy our chickens are.

In the first 2 months of the campaign, we’ve seen the greatest growth in sales and consumer awareness to date:

BUSINESS IMPACT

+222% new stockist applications

+25% sales revenue first 3 weeks of campaign

40% increase in purchase orders

CUSTOMER IMPACT

+493% increase in online conversation

+174% increase in unique web visits

38 million Earned PR Reach

To continue to spread awareness, we’re going to keep doing what we do best. Sell honest eggs.

The ‘FitChix’ campaign had the unique challenge of working directly against the public perception of ‘Free Range’ eggs. As evidenced by the following research, consumers have a positive perception of ‘Free Range’ eggs when compared to cage eggs.

“Qualitative analysis of focus groups and interviews involving 73 participants revealed that free-range and cage-free eggs are perceived as being better quality, more nutritious, and safer, and having better sensory characteristics, than caged eggs.“

Article by Heather J. Bray & Rachel A. Ankeny - Published 16 May 2017.

This lesser of two evils situation has allowed the Australian Free Range egg industry to remain stagnate and capitalise on the status quo.

Until 'FitChix' came along…