‘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 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 chickens at Honest Eggs co. have a lot more space to roam than other farms. But consumers couldn’t separate us from the big egg producers hiding behind misleading labels.

IDEA: Invent a new piece of technology to track our chickens daily step counts and print them onto our eggs.

To do this, we invented ‘FitChix’ - the world’s first step counter made for a chicken. Each week the device is put on a small number of chickens to track their movements.

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 existing printing process.

The ‘eggs with steps’ are distributed to 350+ stores nationwide every week.

By putting this information directly into the hands of the consumer, they can make more informed decisions at the point of purchase.

With the rise of wearable fitness devices and health metric tracking, consumers know what a good daily step count is. With this in mind, our data strategy was to capture this commonly understood data from our chickens.

To do this, we needed a device that was symbiotic with the chicken. So, we invented ‘FitChix’ - a lightweight, chicken-friendly piece of innovative technology that records their natural movements. This device is put onto a small group of chickens every week to record their average daily step count.

Once we acquired the data, we needed to find the perfect delivery method to share this information. And luckily, our product was the answer. We printed our chickens step counts onto our eggs and delivered them nationwide. Now when consumers go shopping for eggs, the information they need to make an informed purchase decision is right there in their hand.

A three-part creative challenge

1. While some shoppers buy on values, understanding regenerative farming’s benefits is not priority for the mass of Aussies putting eggs in the basket.

We needed a simple yet compelling way into regenerative farming, through our chickens and our eggs.

2. Nearly half of Australian egg sales are free range, so a lot of shoppers think they’re doing the right thing already.

We needed to prove we’re a better choice despite coming at a higher price.

3. We had a shoe-string budget. Genuinely. $30,000 AUD to make a difference in a huge category with dominant players and a confusing narrative. We couldn’t media buy our way to success.

We had to think creatively – and go a bit rogue - to get noticed.

Solution

The Idea

We know our method of farming is the way forward. It’s good for the environment, creates a great product and remains a profitable business. But consumers couldn’t separate us from the big egg producers hiding behind misleading labels.

The idea was simple.

‘What if we could create a better egg that gives tangible proof of the conditions it was farmed in?’

So FitChix was born.

By tracking our chickens and printing their step count onto our eggs, we transformed our core product into a new media that called out every other egg brand on the supermarket shelf by proving our chooks’ freedom.

The Execution

World first: a step counter for chickens. With the rise of wearable fitness devices, consumers know what a good daily step count is. We needed to capture this commonly understood data from our chickens. We designed FitChix as a lightweight, chicken-friendly innovative technology that records their natural movements. Prototypes were tested to ensure they didn’t impact the chicken’s quality of life – that’s why we discarded the egg-shaped version that drove them clucking mad…

We put the step count where it most counts: on our eggs. For regulatory traceability, every egg on the supermarket shelf already has a printed farm code. We switched this code with our chicken’s daily step count. So, our eggs themselves became a creative asset and a totally new medium. On March 9th 2023, the first ‘eggs with steps’ were delivered. The 'steps' remain a permanent feature on every egg sold by Honest Eggs Co.

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

317 poster sites were donated across NSW, QLD and VIC – donated because of belief in Honest Eggs Co ethics.

The AV ran on Meta, Snapchat, Tiktok and Yahoo.

The value of the media donated was $397,000.

The campaign ran for 4 weeks, from March 13-April 16 2023.

FitChix has helped to put Honest Eggs Co “in the perfect position as a business”, according to CMO Roger Boyd.

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.

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

Within the first two months, 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%, while sales revenue hit the limit and increased 25%. We also got solid engagement from retailers with +222% new stockist applications.

Furthermore, two of the largest supermarkets in Australia reached out to discuss how Honest Eggs Co. can spearhead their regenerative range. Since then, both supermarkets have announced their commitment to removing cage eggs from their shelves 10 years earlier than planned.

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