Fruit of the Loom is an iconic brand dating back to 1851 that constantly refreshes and repositions to reach new and ever-changing audiences. And with a crowded retail environment, the brand needed to reintroduce itself to younger audiences. Gen Z, specifically.
Other brands had successfully launched mascot content on TikTok, but Fruit of The Loom had to one-up them. They had four massively popular mascots in the Fruit Guys. Now known as the Fruit People, we gave them a new place to steal the show: TikTok. While the characters were first seen in the ’70s, the last time they were spotted was in the early 2010s. This aligned the Fruit Guys perfectly with Gen Z, hitting their early teen years and plopping them right in the middle of the Y2K nostalgia boom. TikTokers have been sharing brand nostalgia for years, posting TikTok videos of DIY fruit Halloween costumes with captions like “Fruit of the Loom HMU” and “it’s giving Fruit of the Loom.”
One of the key challenges was also our main goal: making sure the Fruit People would be relatable to a modern audience on TikTok. So we brought in our trend-savvy social media team and a group of hilarious creatives to give the brand five diverse characters that anyone could identify with. Leaf is a lovable nerd. Apple is a slightly unaware goofball with a big personality. Purple Grape is dry and has a sharp sense of humor. Green Grape is bubbly, upbeat and always ready to have fun. And we introduced someone new: Emma, our Chief TikToker. Her job is to keep the Fruit People together and have them give their take on the latest trends like ASMR, the Mandela effect, pass the phone and some cheeky brand self-awareness. Through this new lens, viewers are able to watch a 15-second TikTok and project themself onto one or more of the characters.
The Fruit People also made a jump from the small screen to the big screen through a paid partnership with National Cinemedia (NCM). These cinema placements sparked more conversation with moviegoers who shared comments on TikTok that they had seen the Fruit People in theaters and had to follow them on social media.
Since launching the Fruit People on TikTok in September 2023, the 23 videos have amassed over 15.6MM total views, 3.3MM 6-second video views and 167.7K engagements. We reached new audiences, and they stuck around with a 47% increase in the number of followers on TikTok since launching in September 2023 through the end of December.
In terms of strictly organic performance, we saw a 146% increase in the number of average engagements and a 281% increase in the average number of views on our Fruit People videos.
Response on the videos has been overwhelmingly positive, with users sharing commentary relating to the different Fruit People characters, asking about the Mandela effect, chiming in to share their excitement and character favorites, and rooting for them to succeed.
