Zespri Brothers
Zespri’s successful brand marketing siblings shift up for one more in Japan and Singapore. Zespri’s animated Kiwi Brothers are welcoming a new sibling to their clan, with the official arrival of a RubyRed “Kiwi Sister” rolling out in all markets where RubyRed fruit is now sold.
Created in Japan and heavily influenced by the country’s love of animated characters, the brothers have proven to be an unexpectedly big promotional hit further afield, now used to promote kiwifruit in more than 20 countries.
Zespri’s Tokyo office can claim to be the source for the brothers’ creation, which came after a deep dive nine years ago into potential character profiles to personify the brand’s fruit. Kanako Inomata, Zespri’s Tokyo-based head of marketing for Asia Pacific, said more than 400 characters across the world were reviewed in the process. “As Japanese, we are quite familiar with multiple anime executions from stop-motions, puppet and various types of illustrations and we utilise different techniques to fit each execution.”
The efforts from the Tokyo team saw Inomata awarded the inaugural Kiwifruit Innovation Award in 2017 for the KiwiBrothers. Acceptance among Japanese consumers was almost immediate, with free soft toys of the brothers reported to be quickly cleaned out by customers.
