Mizkan Uses NTT West’s VOICENCE to Create Fruitis Narration with Natsuki Hanae’s AI Voice

Mizkan (Mizka Corporation; headquarters: Handa, Aichi; President and CEO: Ryoji Maki) has used NTT West’s voice AI business, VOICENCE, to produce narration audio and audio-video content for Fruitis™ featuring the AI voice of popular voice actor Natsuki Hanae. The content will be rolled out from May to July 2026 across in-store broadcasts, digital signage, and apps operated by retailers throughout Japan, and has also been released on Mizkan’s official X account. Together with AI narrator Natsuki Hanae, Mizkan will communicate the appeal of its new Fruitis product. While Fruitis has long been praised by many consumers as “delicious” and “easy to drink,” the association of vinegar with “something healthy but sour that must be endured” has made it difficult to fully convey its value as an everyday refreshment drink. In its spring 2026 brand renewal, Mizkan adopted new packaging that highlights the deliciousness of fruit and sought to redefine vinegar as “a great partner that brings out the flavor of fruit.” To deliver the renewed appeal of Fruitis to more customers, Mizkan strengthened touchpoints in stores and on social media, while also focusing on AI voice as a communication method that could feel familiar to a broader audience. The company selected the AI voice of Natsuki Hanae, a popular voice actor widely supported across genders and age groups. VOICENCE enables flexible content production tailored to each retailer’s in-store broadcast and signage environment, including customized pronunciation of company names, creating a new form of information delivery at the point of sale. NTT West’s VOICENCE is a content production business that uses domestically developed AI speech synthesis technology from the NTT Group to build AI voice models from the voices of performers such as voice actors, actors, artists, and comedians, enabling the planning and production of various audio content. By combining AI speech synthesis with proprietary rights protection technology, VOICENCE aims to protect voices while enabling their proper use, helping the asset of “voice” generate new value. Fruitis was renewed in spring 2026, moving beyond the conventional frame of a “vinegar drink for health” and becoming a refreshment drink centered on the deliciousness of fruit, offering a new fruit experience. The lineup carefully selects popular fruits and distinctive origins, such as Shine Muscat grapes from Nagano Prefecture and Amaou strawberries from Fukuoka Prefecture, and combines them with ingredients such as apple vinegar to bring out the fruit’s flavor to the fullest. Through its Fruity Up Method™, which combines fruit juice and vinegar, Fruitis offers a clean, non-sticky finish while retaining a fruity, satisfying sweetness, creating a new drinking experience different from both conventional fruit beverages and vinegar drinks. Mizkan will continue to provide customers with “deliciousness and health” through its products and menu ideas, based on its corporate philosophy of making good products with sincerity from the customer’s perspective.