2022 Winners & Shortlists

Why is this work relevant for Creative Strategy?

When KitKat started to lose association with its iconic ‘break’ platform, we had to find a way to immerse consumers in the brand experience across their journey and win in a category driven by impulse. First, we revolutionized the use of sponsorships by blurring the lines between real TV and commercial ‘breaks’. This was the base of a bigger integrated campaign that consistently made people live the ‘break’ experience: from in-store, to e-commerce, radio, in-mall stunt and social/digital; with content optimized per platform all linked to the TV show. Once again, having a break meant having a KitKat.

Background

KitKat and “Break” have been inseparable for the past 62 years. For the last few years, the chocolate category has witnessed a decline. In order to grow business and bring back excitement to the category, KitKat’s focus shifted from equity and communicating its iconic 2-Finger & 4-Finger chocolate, to focusing on innovations: from raspberry to cheesecake to tiramisu, we went all out, and it paid off. These exciting new flavors helped drive market share and business: short term gains. However, this also allowed other brands to gain traction in the “break” territory (brand health study showed a drop in KitKat associations with “satisfies your break”) and threatened to affect our core business. We needed to react and reclaim back the “Break Territory”.

The Interpretation of the Challenge (30% of vote)

Increase Recall and Top of mind awareness: We needed our audience to distinctly remember our ad. Achieving high recall would mean achieving Top of Mind. In an impulse category, this would directly increase purchase intent and drive sales. *Increase spontaneous awareness vs pre-campaign *Recall to exceed 49% industry benchmark *Brand linkage to exceed 47% industry benchmark Over-index on equity metric ‘perfect for my break’ versus competition: The ‘perfect for my break’ index was neutral across KitKat and competition, therefore showing no ownership of this space. We needed to reclaim our break territory to show brand differentiation. Increase saliency amongst non-users: *Uplift in “A brand I love” equity metric versus pre-campaign *Increase in “Helps make my break more enjoyable” vs pre-campaign Increase Brand Favorability vs previous KitKat benchmark +50%: Gaining favorability in an impulse category driven by lack of loyalty would be a great sign of brand superiority versus competition.

The Insight / Breakthrough Thinking (30% of vote)

Our core audience are 18-34 year-olds (Gen Z + Millennials). They decide what’s in and what’s not, and fuel the category growth with a high influence on household purchases. While they're currently aware of and consume KitKat, they are always ready to try new brands and products. In this impulse category, they gravitate towards Top of Mind brands. The challenge is to therefore find smart ways to push Top of Mind and keep consideration high. We wanted to reach our audience effectively. And so, the perfect opportunity was to go after one of the most popular global TV formats, and the highest rated TV show among our Target Audience in the region: The Voice. But we had to do it differently and avoid the risk of losing our audience as soon as the break went live (very short attention span, juggling different screens, boring 5 sec sponsorships etc…).

The Creative Idea (20% of vote)

Commercial breaks… No one likes them and people usually zap and leave them. So, instead of going for a typical sponsorship, KitKat blurred the line between live TV and the break, by creating a real ‘commercial break hijack’. Our TVC appeared in the first ad spot: we created an exact replica of the program’s stage, so when the program goes on a break, the Voice ‘chairs’ come to life and take a break too; leaving the audience confused whether the program was still on, or not. Three different TV spots complemented the 3 different stages of the program. We also created a Break Room for contestants; with a secret door linking the break on and off screen. On Youtube, we targeted people searching for re-runs of the program and urged them to skip the ad, so that the chairs can enjoy a peaceful break.

The Outcome / Results (20% of vote)

KitKat revolutionized the use of sponsorships in the region. 93% spontaneous awareness Recall: 73% (vs 49% benchmark) Brand linkage: 87% (vs 47% benchmark) “A brand I love” saw a 14% uplift versus people who have not seen the ad. “Helps make my break more enjoyable” increased by 11% Brand favorability was at its peak: 67% Total engagement on MBC’s platforms was 294000! People shared comments such as ‘for once, I wait for the break to watch an ad’; the exact reaction we were hoping for! Purchase Intent: 86% would definitely buy it (vs 52% benchmark) Repurchase grew by 6% vs pre-campaign The campaign was recognized as a best in class by MBC, and is now shared as a successful example of 360 sponsorship with other businesses The campaign was recognized by key regional and global publishers, such as ArabAd, AdsoftheWorld, Campaign, Bestadsontv and Ad Forum.

Please tell us how disruption in your market place inspired the work

We tackled one of our consumers favorite show, The Voice, and decided to give a break to the whole show including the iconic The Voice chairs and even the behind the stages crew. Creating then a disruptive and fun approach of brands partnership and collaboration.