To create new occasions and increase consumption of a highly seasonal product, we chose to dramatize the life of our canned fruit, sitting lonely on a shelf for over 360 days a year. Research shows us there are 26.7 million people feeling lonely in Thailand alone. 44.8% of them are social media addicts which is precisely where the lonely rambutan came to life online, charming its way through multiple platforms to fulfill every loner’s dream: to become a popular social media persona.

One of the biggest fruit manufacturers in Thailand, Malee has been selling canned fruits for over 40 years. Although people love it, they only buy it on special occasions. That means a canned fruit can sit lonely on a shelf for over 360 days a year. How do we change behavior and bring canned fruit into people’s daily lives?

With the ever increasing of modern desserts in Thailand like boba milk tea or Korean bingsu. Brands have expanded their new desserts, that built popularity through young Thai consumers’ mania of romance, social bonding, and celebrities. In bleak contrast, canned fruit has become much less popular and irrelevant for today’s generation.

Malee’s consumer research showed that canned fruit is consumed mostly by consumers aged between 26 -45 years old and 17% purchase it once a week. that means a seasonal product and can be ‘left on the shelf’ for over 360 days a year.

but, we can see that consumers are likely to consume canned fruit as an after-meal dessert for special occasions like Chinese New Year, Vegan Festival, or weddings.Our key challenge was to turn Malee canned fruit from a seasonal product into an all year-round dessert. And aimed to capture the new generation, 18 to 35 years old.

In Thailand canned fruit is associated as after meal dessert for special occasions like new year, weddings or even monkhood ceremony celebrations so that’s mean it can be ‘left on the shelf’ for 360 days of the year.

As lonely as canned fruit, the research by Mahidol University showed that 26.7 million people in Thailand are lonely, 44.9% are young working adult and 48.9% are high school and university students.

Social media was most popular way to heal their loneliness with 36% on Facebook, 33% on Line, 11% on Twitter. Some lonely people spent lots of time online chatting with friends but said they felt isolated and disconnected.

Facebook, YouTube, Line and Tinder were the most popular apps overall. The key insight that trigger us to our big idea of matchmaking campaign is consumers are as lonely as our canned fruit.

By personifying the canned fruit itself, we took it from the sad and lonely shelf to the hearts and routines of Thai people. #LonelyRambutan

10 Million views on YouTube #LonelyRambutan was retweeted over 60,000 times? 1,000+ matches in Tinder 3M+ engagements 47M+ impressions 20% sales growth within first month ROI 280%