Morella Grove is a premium Australian producer of award winning extra virgin olive oil and gourmet food products, and highly regarded for their commitment to quality.
While their products were loved by loyal customers, the brand needed to grow its digital footprint, improve search visibility, and build greater trust and authority in a competitive market.
Our objective was simple but ambitious:
Earn powerful links to strengthen Morella Grove’s SEO and secure media coverage from trusted, household-name publications to improve brand credibility.
Rather than rely on standard outreach tactics, we developed a creative, data-driven content campaign that would appeal directly to food, lifestyle, and travel media. The concept was designed not just to generate links, but to craft a story and content that well known media brands would want to cover.
In this case study, you’ll learn exactly how we:
✅ Turned a simple data idea into a highly shareable content asset designed to appeal to our target media.
✅ Secured links and media features from top-tier outlets like Timeout, 9Kitchen, and 7News.
✅ Delivered measurable SEO outcomes, including a 44% increase in keyword visibility and a 3-point Domain Authority boost.
Step 1: Finding the Right Idea That Journalists Actually Want
The success of any digital PR campaign starts with the idea. It doesn’t matter how good your outreach is, if the story isn’t relevant or newsworthy, it won’t land. For Morella Grove, we needed a concept that would:
- Naturally tie into their brand and product categories (food and lifestyle).
- Appeal to national and regional media outlets.
- Provide strong data hooks to earn backlinks and coverage from trusted publishers.
We brainstormed three key concepts (Note: We have redacted the information around the two ideas not chosen to protect our IP as we may use these ideas future campaigns):
- The Best Foodie Suburbs in Australia: A data-driven ranking of the top suburbs for food lovers across Australia’s capital cities.
- Diet related campaign idea
- Health related campaign idea
While each had merit, we selected the “Best Foodie Suburbs” campaign because it perfectly aligned with Morella Grove’s culinary focus and had the strongest potential for regional and national media pick-up.
Food is universal, highly shareable, and appeals to both lifestyle editors and general news outlets, making it the ideal angle for wide-reaching coverage and link acquisition.
With the idea locked in, we moved straight into the data research phase to ensure the story would be both credible and compelling.
Step 2: Turning Raw Data into a Story Journalists Couldn’t Ignore
A great content campaign doesn’t just rely on a catchy headline, it needs solid data to back it up. For this campaign, that meant finding a reliable way to quantify which suburbs could have a genuine claim to be the best destinations for food lovers.
Here’s exactly how we approached it:
1. Building the Dataset
We compiled a complete list of suburbs across Australia’s major capital cities—Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra, Darwin, and Hobart.
2. Collecting the Data
We searched TripAdvisor for each suburb and noted key data points for each in a Google Sheet:
- Total number of restaurants
- Star ratings for each restaurant.
- Number of reviews per restaurant.
- Cuisine types offered.
We recorded everything in a structured Google Sheet to keep the data organised and accessible for analysis.
3. Testing Data Models
We explored several ways to rank the suburbs, experimenting with different weighting methods with the goal of trying to balance accuracy with simplicity and newsworthiness.
4. Final Methodology
We ultimately chose the simplest, most impactful metric:
Suburbs with the highest number of restaurants rated 4.5 stars or higher.
This provided a clear and easily digestible ranking system that would resonate with both journalists and readers. Simplicity in the ranking criteria supported a headline-worthy story, while still being based on credible data.
With the rankings finalised, we were ready to transform raw numbers into an engaging, media-friendly content piece.
Step 3: Crafting Content That’s Both Newsworthy and Visually Engaging
With our data rankings finalised, the next challenge was to turn the raw numbers into a content asset that would attract both journalists and readers. The key was to make the findings easy to understand, highly visual, and immediately shareable.
Here’s how we did it:
1. Developing the Core Content Piece
We wrote a detailed blog post for the Morella Grove website that revealed the top foodie suburbs across Australia’s capital cities. The post included:
- An overall ranking of Australia’s top foodie suburbs.
- City-specific breakdowns to support regional outreach.
- Commentary that highlighted surprising insights and trends from the data.
- The methodology
You can view the final content here:
👉 Top Suburbs for Food Lovers in Australian Capital Cities
2. Designing Engaging Visual Assets
To enhance the story’s appeal and improve pick-up rates, we created a suite of visual assets:
- Ranking Tables: Clear, attractive visuals showcasing the top suburbs for foodies, perfect for journalists to include in articles.
- City-Specific Maps: Custom maps for each capital city, showing the top foodie suburbs at a glance.
3. Ensuring SEO and Brand Alignment
We optimised the blog post for relevant search terms related to food, lifestyle, and travel, ensuring that the content continued to drive organic visibility long after the initial media push. All visual assets included subtle Morella Grove branding to support long-term brand recall, even when shared independently by media outlets.
With the content live and assets ready, we moved quickly into distribution to maximise momentum and secure media placements.
Step 4: Getting the Story in Front of the Right People
With the content and creative assets ready to go, the final (and most critical) phase was to get this story into the hands of journalists and editors who could amplify it.
Our goal was clear: secure backlinks from authoritative, high-profile publications and generate brand exposure through trusted media channels.
Here’s exactly how we executed the outreach:
1. Crafting the Media Pitch
We developed a compelling press release that summarised the key findings of the campaign, highlighting attention-grabbing headlines
2. Building a Targeted Media List
Using our knowledge of the Australian media landscape, we created a hitlist of journalists and editors across:
- National lifestyle and food publications.
- Regional and city-based outlets.
- High-authority online platforms and blogs.
3. Securing Coverage and Links
The story landed well:
- Well Known Media Coverage: Featured with backlinks on major outlets including Timeout, 9Kitchen, and 7News.
- Social Amplification: Timeout shared the campaign with their social audience of hundreds of thousands of followers, and 7News featured it in a widely viewed social story.
- Radio Mentions: The campaign was picked up by WIN Network and Hit 104.7 Canberra, extending the reach to new audiences.
In total, we secured 10+ high-authority backlinks and high profile media coverage, directly contributing to improved SEO performance and increased brand trust and visibility.
The Results: Links, Coverage, and Measurable SEO Impact
This campaign didn’t just generate attention, it delivered tangible results for Morella Grove across multiple key business objectives:
✅ 10+ High-Authority Backlinks Secured from major media outlets, strengthening the website’s backlink profile.
✅ Tier 1 Media Coverage on Timeout, 9Kitchen, and 7News, putting Morella Grove in front of highly engaged, relevant audiences.
✅ Significant Social Amplification with Timeout and 7News sharing the story to their social audiences of hundreds of thousands, generating additional reach and engagement.
✅ Radio Features on WIN Network and Hit 104.7 Canberra, further expanding brand awareness beyond digital platforms.
✅ 3-Point Increase in Domain Authority, a key metric indicating stronger website authority.
✅ 44% Increase in Keyword Visibility within Google’s top 100 search results during the campaign period, supporting long-term organic growth.
While not all SEO gains can be attributed solely to this campaign, the timing and results strongly suggest it played a significant role in Morella Grove’s improved search visibility and authority.
A High-Impact Campaign That Delivered Exactly What It Promised
This wasn’t a low-effort, quick-win initiative. It was a carefully planned, resource-heavy campaign designed to deliver maximum brand exposure and SEO value.
From the initial concept through to data collection, content production, and a highly targeted outreach strategy, every stage was executed with precision for the best chance of success.
The results speak for themselves: top-tier media coverage, high-authority backlinks, increased search visibility, and meaningful improvements to Morella Grove’s domain authority—all outcomes that directly support long-term brand growth.
For brands willing to invest in well-researched, creative digital PR strategies, this campaign is proof that the right idea, executed at a high standard, can open doors to media opportunities and SEO outcomes that might not be possible through smaller-scale efforts.
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Want to achieve this kind of high-impact media coverage and SEO growth for your brand?
Contact us for a free consultation and to learn whether a data-driven digital PR strategy can work for your brand.
