The Nature's Energy Snack campaign is less than one year into a three-year offensive to make bananas the funkiest snack choice above less-healthy favourites like potato chips and soft drinks.

The industry will recoup the money spent on the expensive television and online advertising drive within three years, according to Horticulture Australia Limited (HAL) marketing manager David Chenu at ABARE's annual Outlook conference in Canberra last week.

Mr Chenu said the "new generation" - people aged 18 to 39 and who were technologically savvy - chose their snacks more on "brand" and how they made the customers look when they ate the product.

The 18-39 age bracket cared less about flavour than other demographics. Consequently, the ad campaign focuses on portraying bananas as an "energetic" food associated with physical activities such as dancing.

The ads say "brain food" is a "na na" (banana) and caffeine and other artificial food products are a "no no". The campaign even includes a less obvious product placement on the high-rating Channel Ten program, So You Think You Can Dance. Dancers have been seen on the show wearing t-shirts with pictures of bananas on them.

There is also a Facebook fan page for bananas which already has 7000 "friends".

Mr Chenu said the possibilities for this page were almost limitless, with 300 million people on Facebook worldwide.

"The emergence of new social platforms, particularly internet-based ones, is being used by consumers to inform themselves about products," Mr Chenu said.

A HAL survey shows the 18-39 year market being targeted by the campaign is spending more now since the advertisements started in July, 2009.

Two HAL surveys across the same group of 10,000 people found monthly banana consumption value had increased since the campaign started last July.