News Corp Food Study: Fats Are Back, Avocado Smashed & Drinks Are On The Menu

News Corp Australia has released findings from the first of Food Corp’s Trend Forecasts, a rich quarterly insight into the 8.9 million Aussies who connect with its network of food brands, and announced the launch of two key commercial initiatives centred around the company’s insights, FoodLogic and Native in Colour.

Through Food Corp’s digital and social channels, 40 million data points are generated everyday providing real-time information on what Australian’s are planning, shopping, cooking and sharing in food.

The Trend Forecast then overlays this data with the lens of the company’s senior editorial food experts to uncover the trends for the coming season, turning data into invaluable and actionable insights.

News Corp Australia’s director of food, Fiona Nilsson, said: “As the largest food publisher in Australia, being on top of consumer trends is imperative to our business.

“A critical part of this is harnessing the data we generate every day, from a search bar entry to each on-site click and social interaction, this gives us deep and real-time insights into the Australian food consumer.

“This thought leadership allows us to devise the most targeted strategies and campaign solutions to drive true results for our partners.

“The impactful food trends identified in our Summer Forecast allows marketers to align their content marketing strategies with what’s driving consumer behaviour around food.

“The launch of FoodLogic is about delivering a tool that we use internally for our editorial teams to power the largest food network in the country and turning it into a tool for marketers to use when they are creating their own marketing strategies for their food products.”

Baiada’s senior brand manager, Shawn Stevens, said: “For the Steggles and Lilydale brand teams, it’s a breath of fresh air to hear insights about the real trends directly from the editors happening in both the home kitchen and out-of home market.

“We are constantly inundated with data, but to listen to the experts and understand the flavours and foods people are cooking with will allow us to have greater confidence in our ideation and content strategies.”

The FoodLogic proprietary tool powers Food Corp’s editorial content, and with the launch of FoodLogic to market, the tool is now available to Food Corp’s key partners for content campaigns and to help guide advertising strategies and product development.

The deep analytical tool mobilises content data, such as ingredients, nutritional profile, course and event, and matches it to traffic and consumption data, such as device, location and engagement metrics.

News Corp’s Native in Colour product, which delivers native campaigns at scale, is now available across the Food Corp network of digital brands.

News Corp Australia is presenting the Food Corp Trend Forecast to market quarterly. The first immersion sessions found that 75 per cent of clients said the Trend Forecast had made them think differently about their marketing plans.

Key summer 2017-18 season trends identified the following…

Fats are back

Aussies have not only taken on the message around healthy dietary fats, they are now embracing fats of all kinds:

• Low-fat searches are down 20 per cent year-on-year for summer.
• Easy and affordable sources of omega 3s are on the rise.
• Formerly shunned foods are now rising sharply, from nuts to butter and extra-creamy versions of everything.

Avocado smashed

Move over dinner, here comes breakfast as the meal that really shines:

• Searches for breakfast now span the entire day as breakfast dishes are seen as delicious yet quick, easy, tasty, healthy and affordable.
• Craving more than avocado on toast – breakfast bowls are it.
• Restaurants are driving an eggs evolution using rice, grains, pickles and seaweed.

Asian flavours

Asian cuisine surged last summer and has continued to rise throughout 2017, moving well beyond stir fries with noodle dishes:

• Key drivers – speed, flavour, fresh, healthy, affordable and family-friendly.
• Growing awareness and interest in regional-specific Asian cuisines.
• Increased confidence in experimenting with ingredients and exploring Asian grocers.
• Mod Chinese is the one to watch as top chefs take on the challenge.

Drinks are on the menu

No longer playing second fiddle to food, drinks are now equal partners and are set to be at the centre of every hot occasion for summer 2017-18:

• Retro themes are set to dominate.
• Drink-inspired recipes and mash-ups continue.
• A category of innovation in restaurants – from obscure coffee predilections to Noma’s tasting juice menu.

A substitute summer

The trend for ‘free-from’ eating continues to explode in growth and the big news is around substitutions – with substitute ingredients and recipes now driving traffic and engagement at huge scale:

• Gluten-free and sugar-free are reaching new heights.
• Even the icons are having a substitute makeover, from vegan pavlova to gluten-free trifles.
• Expectation for substitute ingredients and recipes to offer the same quality and taste.