South Africa’s largest exporter of South African apples and pears, Tru-Cape Fruit Marketing has a fresh-fruit brand that is recognised in 104 countries around the globe. In its on-going attempt to punch above its weight class when it comes to targeting the hearts and minds of consumers, it has invested in what might be a global first: an interactive app-driven game to try to wrestle young minds away from big-budget confectionery brands towards a proven healthy food choice.
Following the success of Fruit-Full, the game that Tru-Cape developed with the help of interactive agencies Red Cherry and BigBrave, they have decided to enter the game into industry competitions that assess best of the breed.
Tru-Cape’s marketing director Conrad Fick explains: “We were looking to explore new marketing channels to communicate Tru-Cape’s brand intrinsics to the end user, as well as to keep Tru-Cape top of mind when consumers purchase apples and pears. This mobile game has educated users about these facts as well as created awareness around the challenges and complications involved in producing quality fruit”, he says adding that as Tru-Cape strives to only deliver high quality fruit, safe, efficient procedures are followed, in strict compliance with international health and environment protocols such as GlobalG.A.P.
BIGBrave’s Brett Lindsay says “Fruit-Full, the game that is free to download from iTunes and Android stores, has already had over 4500 downloads, has close 1000 active players and has maintained a 4.2 score out of five by players. Tru-Cape, Red Cherry and BIGBrave partnered to create a mobile game aimed at educating consumers about the process from planting to the in-store purchase of apples and pears, in a fun and engaging manner.”
Lindsay continues, “We are constantly looking for ways to improve the game. We recently released Version 2 of Fruit-full, which shows off a new user interface, 3D global navigation with zoom functionality, as well as a number of new features that will help with the overall Fruit-Full experience from orchard to shop. We are pleased to be moving out of concept phase and we look forward to seeing the game scale into the future. The average daily play time of Fruit-Full since it launched a year ago is ±8 hours per day over ±2 sessions per user per day. The game is performing well and we are glad that so many people are enjoying it.”
Red Cherry’s MD, Jenna Murray-Smith says: “This game amplifies the company’s efforts to grab the attention of young minds away from junk food and confectionary brands, towards apples and pears as a natural product that is a healthy snack and a recommended part of the daily diet. A project like this would not be possible without the valued partnership with various stakeholders.”
Tru-Cape’s Fick says that they have launched Fruit-Full version 2 which provides players with a much better user experience with some game enhancements. “The new version also provides the ability to include planned feature updates and improvements to the game which are slated for the rest of the year. A country-wide competition currently underway incentivises users to play the game and work their way through the full Tru-Cape cycle from planting seeds to selling the fruit. This allows players to be educated about the care and time it takes at every point of the production cycle of the Tru-Cape business while also building interest around the game and the Tru-Cape brand”, he says adding that competition details will be on www.playfruit-full.com.
