The encyclopedia · Marketing & Brand · Marketing decision · 2026
Zespri added kiwifruit to Japan's bento song instead of telling kids to eat fruit.
By writing a missing verse about kiwifruit into the children's bento song, Zespri slipped fruit into the lunch ritual rather than advertising it.
Zespri International Japan
the move
Zespri wanted more kiwi eaten at lunch in Japan, but fruit is often left out of the bento boxes children take to school because it is not part of the ritual.
Rather than tell people to eat better, Dentsu rewrote the familiar children's song about bento boxes - a song generations know by heart - adding a 'missing verse' that puts kiwifruit into the lunchbox story.
The song is how Japanese children learn what a bento is, so adding the verse quietly changed the script that shapes habit, making fruit feel like it belongs rather than like a chore.
'Bento x fruit' conversations rose 924% and kiwi mentions on Japan's leading nutrition app grew 1.6x; brand power hit an all-time high of 19.0% and penetration reached 25.0%.
why it works
- A song children memorise is a script; edit the script and you edit the habit.
- Framing the gap as a missing verse makes fruit 'the completing piece', not an add-on.
- It reaches the parent packing the box through the child's ritual rather than through a health claim.
what transfers
To change eating, change the ritual children absorb early, not the advice adults ignore; rewriting the cultural script beats another nutrition campaign.
what came after
The campaign won the Creative Strategy (Cultural Engagement) Grand Prix and a bronze Healthcare Spike at Spikes Asia 2026, and Zespri cited the brand-power, penetration and 'nutrition x kiwi' association gains (11th to 5th) as evidence it shifted lunch behaviour, not just awareness.
references
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