ORANGE COUNTY, CALIF. — Zespri’s animated KiwiBrothers characters are already popular around the globe and are now making their way to the United States for the second season of Zespri’s “Taste the Obsession” marketing campaign.

“We are keeping the momentum of our consumer campaign with creative activations that incorporate our KiwiBrother characters,” said Jeanne Wilson, head of marketing North America. “Our KiwiBrothers have been a strong brand asset in 15 markets across the world and we are thrilled to introduce them to the U.S. market.”

The KiwiBrothers are named Green and SunGold and represent two different types of kiwifruit. They have differing personalities that create comedic interactions between the two of them.

“Our ad testing for our KiwiBrothers’ campaign videos showed very high engagement and persuasion, which is encouraging,” Wilson said. “Our consumers want to know more about how we grow for taste, that we just do kiwifruit and that we’re 100% grower-owned by past and current growers. The KiwiBrothers are here to tell this story. They’re quite proud of who they are and believe the whole world can benefit from the lessons they’ve learned on the orchards.”

Zespri_KiwiBrothers_assets.jpgSource: Zespri

The KiwiBrothers are debuting on social media, TV streaming, audio streaming and at events with their own remix of the 80s pop hit song, “Kids in America” by Kim Wilde. Zespri said the music video will capture consumers’ attention and stop them from scrolling past the ad.

The KiwiBrothers will start showing up at events like sporting events, races and fitness expos to encourage consumers to try samples of Zespri kiwifruit.

“Sampling our kiwifruit is a great way for people to experience the superior flavor profile of our kiwifruit,” Wilson said. “According to our recent third-party consumer study, consumers were two times more likely to consider buying Zespri Kiwifruit versus other brands after tasting our kiwifruit. Our SunGold Kiwifruit had a +40% higher likeness score versus other leading gold brands and our green kiwi had a +30% higher overall likeness score versus other leading green brands.”

Along with the samples at events, Zespri will also give consumers a chance to win a $500 grocery gift card or a variety of KiwiBrothers swag.