Launched in 1935, Kit Kat, with its trademark red wrapper and chocolate fingers, has not just stood the test of time, it has never stopped moving with it and few 80-year-old brands can claim to be trendsetters in the digital age.
Named the most influential candy bar of all time by Time magazine, Kit Kat has defied eight decades of changing business environments and consumer mindsets to become one of the world’s top ten fast-moving consumer goods brands in social media.
Ever since 1938, Kit Kat has been associated with having a break. Its classic tagline ‘Have a Break, Have a Kit Kat” has been synonymous with the brand for almost 60 years.
Its secret? Its strong brand equity and its knack for leveraging ‘moment marketing’ – the ability to move fast and leverage topical or news events.
It all started in 2012 when Red Bull signed up Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner for a record breaking skydive from the stratosphere, more than 20 miles above the surface of the earth, the first person to break the speed of sound in a freefall. But Felix had to postpone the jump several times due to bad weather.
As suspense grew online, Kit Kat decided to offer Felix some moral support with a humorous Facebook post: “It could be a long wait Felix…have a break, have a Kit Kat.”
“The post was an instant viral success and we didn’t want it to stop there,” said Nestlé’s global head of Kit Kat, Stewart Dryburgh.
The answer? Send Kit Kat into space. Orchestrated in record time – less than 24 hours after the idea was hatched, Kit Kat made its ascent strapped to a weather balloon and a Go-Pro camera, which received receiving more than 6.5 million views on Facebook and 10 million impressions on Twitter.
Meanwhile, Kit Kat is the first global chocolate brand to announce that it will use only sustainably sourced third party accredited cocoa in all of its products, from first quarter 2016.
