The Minions x Rockit Collaboration says ‘Bello’ to Vitality

Innovative New Zealand snack sized apple company, Rockit Global Limited is saying ‘bello’ (‘hello’) to vitality in its biggest global collaboration to date with Universal Pictures’ iconic Minions.

Coinciding with the release of the upcoming movie, Minions: The Rise of Gru, the three renowned Minions, Bob, Stuart and Kevin, feature prominently on Rockit’s packaging, forming part of an extensive omni-channel campaign across Mainland and Hong Kong, China.

Global Brand Manager, Hannah de Valda says it’s exciting to see Rockit disrupting the global commodity apple category by marketing like a FMCG brand with unique campaign packaging and a collaboration that aligns with the brand’s personality, attitude and values.

“Both Rockit and The Minions are innovative, unique, joyous and sweet, so we are pumped to launch this iconic and cheeky collaboration to stand out in the fresh goods category and introduce our brand to millions more consumers. Following our successful collaboration with PacMan in 2021, teaming up with the world-renowned Minions is another significant milestone towards our goal of becoming the world’s most loved apple brand.

“As an apple brand that innovates, thinks and acts differently and is brimming with energy, collaborating with the popular Minions will make a huge impact in store and online to drive Rockit sales in challenging conditions,” says Hannah.

Rockit will have a significant POS presence in China targeting 10,000 activations across a range of retailers, supported by fun merchandise encouraging a healthy, active lifestyle, and extensive digital activity to achieve a strong consumer experience.

Rockit China Marketing Manager, Xin Hu, says this is the first time Rockit has created a set of iconic custom packaging for consumers to collect.

“On sale since Children’s Day, the Rockit x Minions pack – showcasing the Minions characters – has already been very successful. Being packed and sealed in New Zealand has also been a huge advantage in driving sales in a very challenging Covid situation with many instore retailers closed.

“Working with Hema, the leading online-to-offline (O2O) platform under Alibaba Group in China, the Minions pack is available online nationally and in close to 40 campaign themed offline stores in key cities. To date we have already seen strong 50% year-on-year sales growth instore, as well as selling through all stock through Hema’s online store,” says Xin.

This activity will be supported through KOL and KOC collaborations and social activity coinciding with the movie release, including a Douyin (Tiktok) livestreaming event to enhance the partnership with the Minions brand.

“With this strong brand partnership, we’re proud to be delivering cut through marketing activity that has grabbed consumer attention from the outset,” Hannah adds, “encouraging millions more consumers to try something new, do something different and Rockit every day!”

ENDS

About Illumination/Minions
From the biggest animated franchise in history and global cultural phenomenon, comes the untold story of one 12-year-old’s dream to become the world’s greatest supervillain, in Minions: The Rise of Gru.

Teeming with Illumination’s signature subversive humor, pop-culture sophistication, full-hearted emotion, bold music sensibility, and over-the-top action, Minions: The Rise of Gru is steered by the franchise’s original creators. The film is produced by visionary Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri and his longtime collaborators Janet Healy and Chris Renaud and is directed by returning franchise filmmaker Kyle Balda (Despicable Me 3, Minions). The co-directors are Brad Ableson (The Simpsons) and Jonathan del Val (The Secret Life of Pets films).

About UNIVERSAL BRAND DEVELOPMENT
Universal Brand Development globally drives expansion of the company’s intellectual properties, franchises, characters and stories through innovative physical and digital products, content, and consumer experiences. Along with franchise brand management, Universal Brand Development’s core businesses include Consumer Products and Games and Digital Platforms based on the company’s extensive portfolio of intellectual properties created by Universal Pictures, Illumination, DreamWorks Animation and NBCUniversal cable and television. Universal Brand Development is part of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation. www.universalbranddevelopment.com.

About Rockit
Rockit began as a tiny seed of an idea 20 years ago. While the rest of the world was super-sizing, we did the opposite.

From Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand we created the world’s one-of-a-kind, perfectly-sized small apple and packed it with concentrated flavour and goodness. Then we thought different again and created unique, premium packaging to disrupt the category and stand out on shelf. Our apples are now sold in more than 30 countries around the world – and grown in 10, which means they’re fresh all year around.

In a world of sameness, different is how we stand out and get ahead. Pioneering and innovating. Faster, greater, fresher. We’ve got a winning difference – and big ambitions to be the world’s most loved apple brand.

And in true Rockit style, we’re making this happen in our own unique way. This is how we’re inspiring people around the world to love an apple that’s just that little bit different, and to take on the world one bite at a time, in their own way. To Rockit every day.www.rockitapple.com