This intense love story about a lonely can of rambutan boosted sales of the product in Thailand

A campaign for Thai canned fruit brand Malee about a lovesick, lonely can of rambutan pays homage to iconic Chinese film director Wong Kar-Wei ("Chungking Express," "In the Mood for Love")—and it's not only captured viewers' hearts but boosted sales in Thailand.

Created by Wunderman Thompson Bangkok, the campaign centers on the insight that most Thai people only consume canned fruit on special occasions, meaning cans get literally "left on the shelf" for much of the year. It kicked off in the summer with a film, "The Lonely Rambutan," in which the can of rambutan yearns for a woman to notice it and take it off the shelf. With its intensity and passionate soundtrack, and the woman's yearning glances in the can's direction, the film, directed by Poj Pitakjamnong from The Film Factory, borrows heavily from some of Wong Kar-Wei's famous movies. 

The film, which originally ran in July, had over 10 million views on YouTube, and Malee then followed it up with a social media campaign that ran through October, in which the rambutan can "checked in" at singles events on Facebook and joined Tinder, asking people he matched with to meet him at their local 7-Eleven. 

According to the agency's case study, seen here, the campaign has had over 60,000 retweets, 47 million impressions and has resulted in sales growth of 20 per cent for canned fruit.