New breaks / KitKat mentions in the case study video that the brand has been using the iconic ‘Have a Break, Have a KitKat’ brand platform and creative springboard since 1958, over which time the four-fingered chocolate and wafer bar has created many fun and entertaining iterations of that slogan. Speaking to Contagious in 2020 about the The KitKat Kit campaign, Jason Berry, creative director at Wunderman Thompson, London, said: ‘The equity of “Have a break. Have a KitKat” is so important when your brand has so many other lookalike products and supermarket owned substitutes who are trying to muscle in. There is this sense of needing to fight for your right to exist. You’ve got to give people a philosophy to buy into, that is why KitKat is so powerful. That is one of its key challenges, to keep leveraging this old line and reinventing it. The “Have a break” asset is a vital weapon in keeping KitKat top of mind.’
Passion points / Berry also noted of The KitKat Kit campaign that the brand chooses to activate around areas that it identifies as intense and dedicated with fanbases, ‘We wanted to uncover a passion point with a built-in need for a break, rather than creating something artificial, we wanted to start with something that felt authentic and real, where KitKat had a right to speak.’
For the Giving Gamers a Break campaign, agency Wunderman Thompson claims that Fifa is the leading gaming title among 25- to 35-year-olds in Malaysia, making it an ideal opportunity to engage such a fanbase. ‘KitKat has always been a mass brand aimed at pretty much everyone, that strategy isn’t new. It has skewed slightly more towards the millennial market where you’re trying to capture a loyal consumer, who KitKat can then hang onto for a couple of decades’ Berry told us.
Over the last few years, Contagious has noticed an increasing trend of brands entering into popular video-game titles and activating to appease the passionate fanbases within. You can some of these best-in-class examples in our Best of Gaming collection here. Key to the success of most of them is not interrupting gameplay and adding value to the experience, rules that Giving Gamers a Break observes very well.
Salty wins / In the 2020 study, Consumer Insights – Games and Esports, by research company NewZoo, the report reveals that 80% of gamers regularly consume food and drink while gaming. Within the APAC region, the preference for salty snacks outweighs that of sweet, with 51% of people consuming the former over just 39% for the latter. Given this, what Giving Gamers a Break smartly does is help elevate the utility of a KitKat bar, positioning it as more than just a snack, but the permission to a take a break – which may help KitKat win in its battle against salty snacks and other chocolate competitors in the category. As creative director Berry also told us, ‘The confectionery category is very competitive. It’s increasingly glutted by lots of new products and KitKat is facing quite a lot of pressure to stay relevant while the trend of healthy snacking grows.’ Campaigns like this help KitKat to gain a competitive edge in salience and memorability while people are snacking in these competitive consumption occasions.
