The egg industry is one of the most misleading food industries in the world. On the supermarket shelf you’ll see Free Range, Open Range, Cage Free, Nest Laid, Barn Laid, and Free Run eggs - the list goes on and on. Despite all these wholesome sounding names, a ‘Free Range’ egg farm can have 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 start noticing our eggs.

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 of our product.

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, we needed to educate consumers on how eggs are farmed.

So, we innovated the humble egg to carry an important message 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.

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 during the printing process.

Now every time consumers shop for eggs they can see how free our chickens are and make an educated decision at the point-of-purchase.

At Honest Eggs Co. we’re committed to 100% transparency in everything we do. So it was only natural that this led the strategy for our ‘FitChix’ campaign.

Our target audience was ‘Free Range’ egg buyers. We needed to engage the sensibilities of this audience who’ve been led to believe that ‘Free Range’ eggs are the most ethical choice on the supermarket shelf.

Our strategy was simple, be honest and show consumers how free and healthy the chickens are on our regenerative farms. If we can gain the attention of consumers at the point-of-purchase and empower them to make an informed decision, we can change the industry for good.

Our approach would raise awareness on social, drive consideration near premises through selectively placed digital OOH and influence decisions at the point of purchase.

The 'FitChix' innovation was seamlessly integrated into the existing production and distribution processes of Honest Eggs Co. This meant that all marketing activities were directly in support of the physical product sold on supermarket shelves.

After tracking the steps of our chickens we began printing the very first ‘eggs with steps’. 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 our newly innovated product was delivered to 362 stores across Australia. The steps now remain a permanent feature on every egg sold by Honest Eggs Co.

To drive traffic to stores, we ran an integrated campaign that delivered across social, site specific OOH and the subsequent earned PR.

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.