Social media is full of unhealthy content because it gets more views, shares and likes. Tons of likes. However, this is affecting young people’s health in an alarming way. Furthermore, because of the way social media algorithms work, the more unhealthy content you view, the more you see it on your social media. This trend tricks people into thinking natural ways of becoming healthy are old-school and boring. As the leading fruit brand in Japan that aims to enrich people’s health, Zespri wanted to show that healthy content can be just as engaging. So together with our super popular brand mascots, the Kiwi Brothers, we created something totally unheard of.

HEALTHY AR STREAMERS is the world’s first 24-hour, 30-day AR interactive live stream. By submitting ideas through the comments section, viewers could control the AR Kiwi Brothers in real-time. But only under one condition. The commands had to be healthy. Viewers raced to submit comments and were eager to take snapshots of their favorite healthy scenes to share. Through the power of entertainment, a total of 4 million people gathered to participate in the live stream.

Zespri’s brand mascot “The Kiwi Brothers” is the most popular corporate character in Japan. Leveraging their fame, we decided to create healthy content on the internet that people would actually want to see. By turning the Kiwi Brothers into AR live streamers, we launched a 24/7 on-going live-streaming platform. To make the live stream interactive, we made a comments section through which viewers could submit their own healthy ideas. A snapshot button was also implemented, encouraging viewers to share inspiring scenes from the live stream.

Aired from their home, the Kiwi Brothers’ healthy lifestyle was broadcast to the world. Viewers could control movement of the AR Kiwi Brothers via the comments section, by submitting healthy ideas, from jump roping and stretching to singing and even meditating. The Kiwi Brothers were programmed to perform the ideas in real-time, and viewers could take shareable snapshots of inspiring scenes. Since it was a non-stop 24/7 live stream, we couldn’t use virtual reality actors like VTubers. Instead, a diorama house was scanned down to the millimeter, using 15 motion capture sensors, then AR was used to synthesize characters onto the set in real-time. By attaching the AR camera onto a moving robot arm, a dynamic broadcast featuring multiple angles was created, showing the Kiwi Brothers both indoors and outdoors. Finally, to make the live stream look even more real, lighting was synchronized with the movement of the sun.

The live stream had a cumulative viewing time of a whopping 43,000 hours and approximately 4 million people came to take part in the AR Kiwi Brothers’ live stream. During the 30-day period, we got over 90 million likes and at the end, the campaign generated over 2.6 million dollars worth of PR value. Healthy ideas submitted in the comments section reached over 1.4 million, which we visualized in a “digital encyclopedia of healthy content” and in an online movie. Last but not least, inspired by the Kiwi Brother’s live stream, people started to mimic the AR Kiwi Brothers’ moves, and more than 1.2 million activity posts were shared on social media. The live-stream not only proved to the world that being healthy can be exciting, it also encouraged people to actually enjoy living a healthy lifestyle.