Rockit man
Mark O'Donnell, or MOD as he's widely known, was the former chief executive at House of Travel, but also spent time in senior management roles in Spark, Lion Nathan and Fonterra Brands.
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 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 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,” de Valda says.
She says that following the company’s 2021 collaboration with PacMan in 2021, teaming up with the Minions marks a significant milestone towards the company’s 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.”
Rockit China marketing manager, Xin Hu, says this marks the first time Rockit has created 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,” he says.
“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.”
The activity will be supported through KOL and KOC collaborations and social activity coinciding with the movie’s 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,” says de Valda, “encouraging millions more consumers to try something new, do something different and Rockit every day!”
