'FitChix' takes the humble egg and innovates it to carry an important message directly from the farm to the supermarket shelf.

With most egg brands claiming to be ‘Free Range’, we needed to fight greenwashing and start proving to consumers just how free our chickens are. But stats about field size and farmer stories wouldn’t cut it. We needed our proof to be vivid yet familiar. So, we tracked our chickens and printed their step counts onto our eggs.

'FitChix' delivered a reset for the egg category and growth for Honest Eggs Co. across fame, sales, stockists and land.

The situation - Honest Eggs Co. is a small, regenerative farming egg producer based in Victoria, Australia. They move chickens from field to field, naturally fertilising the soil and ensuring the chickens have fresh grass to eat. With fewer than 30 chooks* per hectare compared to up to 10,000 for standard free range, Honest Eggs' focus on transparency means that with better ethics, comes better eggs.

The Brief was to attract attention to Honest Eggs’ products, to grow the business, and make egg buying clearer for shoppers. Growth is challenging because a lot of land is needed to produce enough eggs to fulfil orders while ensuring ethical practices.

The objectives were to grow awareness, sales and stockist enquiries with a shoestring budget of AUD $30,000. We needed a famous idea that would deliver plenty of impact.

*chook is Australian for chicken

A confusing category.

There’s lots of confusion in the egg industry due to the proliferation of terms used to describe farming practices. Like Barn Laid, Cage Free and Free Range eggs. What does it all mean? Vague terminology is designed to help shoppers feel better about their choice, while obscuring the reality of the conditions chickens are farmed in.

Free Range isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Accounting for almost half of egg sales, ‘Free Range’ can mean up to 10,000 chooks* per hectare. This type of farming damages soil through overuse and restricts the freedom of chickens. Well-intentioned Aussie shoppers were finding eggs hard to judge - and the trade, who perpetuate these definitions, weren’t helping.

*Chook is Australian for chicken

Regenerative farming means happier chooks.

Honest Eggs Co.’s seven farms have just 30 chickens per hectare and use regenerative farming methods. This type of farming is better for the land and the chooks. When the chickens roam, scratch, and frankly, poo, they’re improving the soil – which means healthier soil and chickens.

Changing the egg industry one step at a time

Regenerative farming is good for the environment and it creates a great product. But consumers couldn’t separate us from the big egg producers hiding behind misleading labels. So, the idea we came up with was simple, ‘What if we could create a better egg that showed people the conditions it was farmed in?’

The business challenge: grow right

Honest Eggs Co. needs a lot of land to produce enough eggs to fulfil orders while ensuring ethical practices.

The shopper challenge: an eggs-tremely confusing category.

Vague terminology helps shoppers feel better about their choice, while obscuring the reality for chickens. Barn Laid? Chooks don’t get to go outdoors. Cage Free? Indoors with no space to turn.

Free Range? Even though it’s almost half of egg sales in Australia, it can mean up to 10,000 chooks per hectare with soil that’s pecked dry, leaving both chickens and land lacking nutrients.

No wonder well-intentioned Aussie shoppers were finding eggs hard to judge. 

A trio of desired outcomes.

1. A famous idea to get people talking and rethinking the eggs they’re buying.

2. Support business growth by adding stockists to grow sales.

3. Get healthier Australian soil by growing Honest Eggs’ land and grow regenerative farming.

Our strategic process included everyone on the team ‘doing’ strategy by going to the farms and experiencing the Honest Eggs approach and interviewing shoppers.

This got us to our first breakthrough: fight green-washing with green-proving.

Across the egg shelf there are images of rolling pastures, stories of family farms.

We needed to reflect Honest Eggs’ total transparency and tangibly prove our chickens’ freedom.

Tangible proof presents a tangible challenge.

- Testimonials rely on trust of the spokesperson, and don’t drive fame.

- Cold scientific proof wouldn’t build the emotional connection to overcome Honest Eggs’ price premium.

Our insight came when we realised stats about space and heartfelt testimonials about ethics wouldn’t cut it. For famous proof, we’d need to make freedom to roam feel both visceral and familiar.

We reframed from chickens to people: humans prove our own movement to ourselves, and emotionally connect to it, through fitness trackers.

FitChix:

By tracking our chickens and printing their steps onto our eggs, we transformed Honest Eggs’ product into tangible proof of ethical, sustainable production. We created a new medium that called out every other egg on the shelf.

How creative strategy influenced creative execution:

We stayed true to our insight of proof that felt both familiar and visceral. That meant:

- Staying true to transparency. We designed and redesigned our tracker until the chooks accepted it (our first prototype made them clucking mad…!). We knew we couldn’t compromise on tangible, transparent proof.

- Stay true to making it famous. That included everything from a Strava account for our hero chook, Henrietta, to build fame in context, to getting Henrietta herself to answer consumer queries.

- Stay true to simplicity. Our hero image was a step count printed on an egg, a stark contrast to the greenwashing of other egg brands.

Our focus on tangible proof to drive fame helped Honest Eggs get cluck for their buck.

1. We grew awareness through fame.

We delivered AUD $40m+ earned PR reach and a whopping 493% increase in social conversations.

2. We grew sales and stockist enquiries.

We delivered +25% sales vs same period last year, a 40% increase in orders received and a 222% increase in enquiries from new stockists. Our chooks couldn’t lay fast enough!

3. We grew the business, right.

FitChix is delivering in the long-term, too. Henrietta has become a brand asset who answers consumer questions; we’ve got a growing partnership with a key supermarket retailer, and we’ve helped support growth in Honest Eggs Co’s land.

In Australia, the majority of all eggs farmed come from three big producers, making any shift in market incredibly challenging. These egg farms block the attempts of progressive egg farmers who pursue more sustainable practices. But this didn’t stop Honest Eggs Co. from taking them on.

In a world first, we innovated the humble egg into a revolutionary piece of response-driven media. By adapting our product we could tell a brand story our competitors couldn’t. Now when anyone opens up a carton of Honest Eggs Co. eggs, they can see how free and healthy our chickens are. By using our product as media we rose above our competitors on the supermarket shelf. And it allowed us to provide vital information to customers at point-of-purchase, empowering them to make more ethical choices. The greatest impact has been starting to change the industry for the better.