KitKat Leverages Twitter To Promote Its New Variants

About KitKat:

KitKat is a chocolate-covered wafer biscuit bar confection created by Rowntree’s of York, England, and is now produced globally by Nestlé, which acquired Rowntree in 1988. In the United States, it is made under the license by H.B. Reese Candy Company, a division of The Hershey Company. The standard bars consist of two to four fingers with three layers of wafer, separated and covered by an outer layer of chocolate. Each finger can be snapped from the bar separately. There are many different flavours of KiKat.

Background:

In 2015, KiKat leveraged on the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, that was co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, as a platform to promote its newly launched variants. In India, cricket is considered a religion and the masses love for their cricketers is second to none amongst all the sports in India. As a result, KitKat launched the #SlowIsBetter which was a social media campaign. The brand used TVCs that was shown during breaks in the cricket matches and even through digitally where they organized Twitter contests. KitKat India also used other Social Media channels like YouTube.

Objectives of the campaign:

While launching the social media campaign #SlowIsBetter, KitKat had defined 3 main objectives that they wanted to achieve out of this campaign.

• The first and primary objective was to promote and create awareness in the minds of the customers about their newly launched variants of the famous chocolate KitKat.
• The second objective of the campaign was to create a buzz around the new variants of chocolates and engage the audience with the brand. This would be done through ATL strategies like TVCs and leveraging social media campaign like Twitter, YouTube etc.
• The third objective was to acquire new customers for their newly launched variants and create a rapport of the brand in the market.

Strategy of the Campaign:

KitKat India was one of the sponsors of the ICC World Cup 2015. As a result of this, The #SlowIsBetter Campaign was created by integrating the brand with its association with digital and other advertisements. A television commercial was shot which was based on the concept showcasing the hectic schedule and lifestyle of people they go through today. The brand advice them to take a break and recharge your senses by having the newly launched KitKat Senses.  The commercial was shot during the breaks that would happen during matches.

For creating a buzz with the audience on social media, the TVC was put up on YouTube and was promoted and shared across other social media channels like Facebook. In order to garner the attraction of Twitter users, a contest was organized for them on Twitter. The contest was basically where a question was put up for the users where they have to guess the slowest ball on which a wicket will be taken during the group match between India vs Pakistan. The user who would guess the right answer would stand to win e-shopping vouchers

To make this campaign, even more, attractive, the grand prize on offer for the contest was 10 cricket bats which were personally autographed by the cricket legend, Rahul Dravid.

Moreover, for engaging users on Twitter, the match between India vs South Africa was commented live on the twitter handle of KitKat in a comical manner.  The tweets displayed images depicting an animated KitKat bar making funny gestures at important moments of the match.

During the Cricket World Cup, Star Sports had come up with the #MaukaMauka Campaign which was a hit among fans. In order to take advantage of its popularity, the brand engaged with the campaign in order to get a better outreach with their fans.

Key Messages of the Campaign:

During the World Cup, as India was all set to face South Africa, KitKat India had posted a #GameOn tweet to KitKat South Africa followed by a series of funny tweets.

• Made over 12 hours with Slow Churned Chocolate, the Rich Smooth Taste of KitKat Senses tells you why #SlowIsBetter
• @kitkatsa An epic battle awaits #GameOn
• @KitKatIndiaSending you some crackers! Hope you get to enjoy them! #MaukaMauka#SAvsIND
• @kitkatsa Thanks, guys. But, we’ve sent some crackers of our own to Adelaide, they fire especially well when they see green #SAVsInd
• @KitKatIndia.do we sense some sparks in the air? #SAvsIND
• @kitkatsa Not yet, but you will once the match ends #GameOn#SAVsInd

Results of the Campaign:

• The campaign generated a high rate of engagement and participation in huge numbers.
• The TV commercial gained popularity which led to high sales of the chocolates in retail stores.
• The TV commercial uploaded on YouTube garnered more than 1.2 million views.
• The funny commentary during India vs South Africa match engaged a lot of users which lead to many re-tweets and comments throughout the match.

 Learnings of the Campaign:

Some of the things that we can learn from the campaign #SlowIsBetter:

• The main reason for high-level engagement and acquisition of new customers was the gratification of winners in the contests.
• Another reason for high-level engagement was the comical real-time commentary which a lot of re-tweets, comments etc. Having a funny element in your campaign garners high participation.
• The real-time commentary and updates became an interesting part of the contest which users liked to share and express their feelings along with it.
• It was a good strategy to tie up with the “Mauka Mauka” campaign and inviting more people to participate in it.
• The message showcased in the commercial “Reconnect with your Senses” also impacted the persona of the target segment, who are so engrossed with their work and find no time to maintain a good work-life balance.

Creatives of the Campaign:

Twitter Creatives:

 Image Credits:

Twitter