When a customer goes to the supermarket to buy a carton of eggs, they’re bombarded with choice. There’s cage-free, barn-laid, farm-fresh and free range eggs - the list goes on. Most people choose ‘free range’ eggs because they believe this is the most ethical choice. What they don’t know is that ‘free range’ farms can legally have up to 10,000 chickens per hectare in Australia.

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 better for the chickens. But we needed a campaign to shake up public perception of the egg industry and show how free and healthy our chickens are.

Our key objective was to bring honesty to the egg industry. We set out to accomplish this by building conversation about our point of difference, increasing our customer base and increasing stockists.

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 remain stagnate and capitalise on the status quo.

Until 'FitChix' came along…

As a sustainable player in the egg industry, Honest Eggs Co. needed to educate consumers on how eggs are farmed.

So we innovated the humble egg to carry an important message directly from the farm to the supermarket shelf.

To do this we designed ‘FitChix’ the world’s first step counter custom made for a chicken. Each week the device is put on a small number of chickens to track their movements as they roam freely around our regenerative farms. Their step counts are then printed directly onto every egg we sell and sent out to supermarkets nationwide.

Now every time customers shop for eggs they can see how free our chickens are and make a conscious decision to support sustainable agriculture.

Our target audience care about animal welfare and choose meat and dairy products they believe to be ethical. But there’s lots of confusion around eggs, due to the proliferation of terms used to describe farming practices. Many consumers believe they’re doing the right thing by buying ‘Free Range’ eggs. They don’t realise this type of farming can have 10,000 chickens per hectare which damages soil through overuse, reduces nutrition density of eggs and greatly affect the lives of chickens.

Also, the majority of all eggs farmed in Australian come from three mega producers, making any shift in market share incredibly challenging.

We needed to break away from the pack and do something our competitors wouldn’t dare to do. Be honest. And show consumers and new stockists how free and healthy the chickens are on our regenerative farms.

We started by inventing the ‘FitChix’ device. Made from hen-friendly materials it features customised software and GPS tracking. These devices are put on a small group of our chickens each week to track their daily step counts.

We then piggybacked our existing printing process. 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.

On March 9th 2023, the ‘eggs with steps’ were delivered to 350+ stores across Australia and remain a permanent feature on every egg sold by Honest Eggs Co.

To create awareness and drive traffic to stores, we ran an integrated campaign across social, site specific OOH and earned PR.

We also made the device open source so every honest egg farmer around the world can use it.

The 'FitChix' campaign has completely reframed how people think about eggs. We’ve empowered consumers to make more sustainable egg purchases, greatly increased our presence in stores and propelled the business forward.

Within the first two months of the campaign going live, we saw a +493% increase in online conversation. And 38 million earned PR reach - connecting with over 148% of the Australian population.

In the first three weeks, purchase orders from existing stockists increased 40% which maxxed out our available supply. While sales revenue hit the limit and increased 25%.

We also got solid engagement from retailers with +222% new stockist applications.

Furthermore, one of the two largest supermarkets in Australia reached out to discuss how Honest Eggs Co. can spearhead their sustainable and regenerative range.

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

The most disruptive issue in the egg industry is inaction on sustainability. In Australia, the majority of all eggs farmed come from three big producers making any shift in market challenging. These egg farms thwart the attempts of progressive egg farmers who pursue more sustainable practices.

With a population that overwhelmingly believes any ‘Free Range’ egg is a good egg, it was time for Honest Eggs Co. to lift the lid and share the honest truth. By adapting our product we could tell a brand story our competitors couldn’t. This strategy helped educate consumers to make better choices and set the industry on a stable path to more sustainable outcomes.