Zespri Water Fight

The sights from Zespri's Juicy Water Fight

Peer-to-peer marketing is helping Zespri position itself as a leader in China’s booming kiwifruit market.

The New Zealand single-desk marketer has had over 25m hits on a video recorded at its Juicy Water Fight, held in Shanghai during July.The event – held to launch Zespri Sungold sales in China for the 2014 season - attracted over 1,000 people, with participants encouraged to share photos and videos of the festivities via social media.

“We shared the video over several social mediums and video websites and of course some of the hits we have had on the video are repeat viewers, but for the most part they are original viewers,” says Zespri’s Chinese marketing manager, Jenny Chuang.“Social media has provided our guests with a platform to connect with their family and friends and share their experience.”

Like the event itself, the video aims to position kiwifruit as an essential part of a happy and healthy lifestyle, helping Zespri develop a more interment link with its consumers. Chuang says social media has allowed Zespri to convey this message to a wide-range of consumers, in an extremely cost-affective manner.

“The more traditional ways we have run our marketing, like television advertisements, are very expensive in comparison to social media,” Chuang tells Asiafruit. “By participating in an event like the Juicy Water Fight, consumers are also creating a physical memory, which helps them remember the brand and share their positive experience. We spent considerable time and money gagging what sort of event would allow us to capture our consumers interest.”