The brief

Rous County Council is the local authority responsible for weed biosecurity across the Northern Rivers, managing an area of more than 10,000km². While Rous actively targets high-priority weeds, responsibility for controlling common invasive weeds sits with individual landowners, and many weren't aware this was a legal biosecurity duty.

Left unmanaged, these weeds spread quickly via machinery, livestock, and natural vectors, threatening biodiversity, agriculture, and neighbouring properties across the region.

Rous needed a campaign that would:

• Encourage landowners to proactively control common weeds on their land, in line with best-practice advice
• Build awareness of landowners' biosecurity duty
• Continue to drive reporting of high-priority weeds to Rous
• Sit within Rous' existing brand while giving them a fresh, ownable creative direction for the campaign

Our response

Barefruit developed "Nip Weeds in the Bud", an original tagline and creative platform built around a simple, well-known phrase that lands immediately with a farming and landowner audience. It's clear, actionable, and empowering rather than judgemental, turning a compliance message into a call to action.

Around this idea, we built an integrated mixed-media campaign:

• A new visual style for Rous: Flat, clean illustration vector artwork using Rous' existing brand colours, giving the council a distinctive, owneable look that hadn't been used in their comms before
• Animated video: Scripted and storyboarded as a 20 second cause-and-effect story: a single weed taking hold, spreading to neighbouring land, and the simple, satisfying action of dealing with it early, for use across Socails and YouTube bumpers
• Print advertising: Northern Rivers Times half-page placements
• Digital display advertising: A full suite of Google HTML Adverts, sizes (300x600, 300x250, 970x250, 728x90, 320x50, 320x100) for maximum reach across placements
• TV / BVOD: Locally targeted to reach landowners in the region
• Radio: A 30-second script with a calm, conversational Australian voiceover, timed sound design (birdsong through to an "ominous overgrowth" effect), and a considered music brief to keep the tone community-focused rather than alarmist

Every asset carried the same message: weeds don't stop at the fence line, early action protects your land, your neighbours, and the wider Northern Rivers environment.

The Fruits

Following launch, the "Nip Weeds in the Bud" campaign delivered strong results across the board, with clear, distinct wins for each channel in the mix.

Overall reach & spend

• 1.65M+ impressions across Google and YouTube channels
• 91,607 total clicks/engagements, at a blended average of just $0.09 per click
• 20 direct conversions, 19 phone calls and 1 weed report submission, turning awareness into genuine landowner action

Channel performance

• Google Display was the standout for reach and cost-efficiency, 796,226 impressions across March and April at just $0.20 per link click, well below industry average, with a healthy 0.98% CTR
• Search & Performance Max were the highest-intent channels of the campaign, generating 299,871 impressions and 2,832 link clicks, and delivering 100% of the campaign's direct conversions. Paid Search users spent an average of 30 seconds on the landing page, confirming strong alignment between targeting and audience intent
• YouTube bumper ads were served 159,933 times at $0.05 per click, with 72.69% of viewers watching at least the first quarter, proof the story hooked attention early
• Demand Gen delivered the strongest CTR of any display-format placement, confirming precise, relevant audience targeting
• Radio (2LM) and print (Northern Rivers Times) extended reach into the farming community through March and April, reinforcing the message with a trusted, local touch

The takeaway

The channel mix did exactly what it was designed to do: Display and YouTube built broad, cost-effective awareness, while Search and Performance Max, the highest-intent channels, converted that awareness into real landowner action, with Radio and print reinforcing the message across the wider farming community.

The campaign successfully raised awareness of priority weeds across the Northern Rivers, delivering a strong reach, engagement, and cost-efficient results that drove meaningful community interaction

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