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”.

Background & Context

KitKat and “Break” have been inseparable for 62 years.

In recent years, the chocolate category had witnessed a decline. To grow business and bring back excitement to the category, KitKat’s focus shifted from equity to innovations: from raspberry to cheesecake to tiramisu, we went all out, and it paid off: short term gains.

However, this also allowed competition to gain traction in the “break” territory and threatened to affect our core business.

We needed to react and reclaim back the “Break Territory”.

Creative Challenge

‘The Voice’, one of the biggest programs when it comes to TV viewership in the region, was a perfect opportunity to reach our audience at mass.

The challenge: while people tune in for the show, they tune out for the ads.

People ‘break away’ from the show as soon as commercials go live.

This is particularly true amongst our core audience, whose attention spans are getting shorter, and who juggle 3 to 5 screens at once; making it hard for them to focus especially in the ‘dead period’ between the show.

While going after The Voice seemed like a good reach opportunity; going for a typical sponsorship would not have helped us create the awareness we were looking for.

This meant we had to do things differently and avoid the risk of losing our audience as soon as the break went live.

Solution

Creating a real ‘commercial break hijack’; bringing KitKat’s ‘break’ platform to life in a way that was never seen before.

Execution

We brought the break to the most seen and recognized elements on this show, the judges’ chairs, because they too need a break from all this turning and twirling around!

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 commercial 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: Blind Auditions, Battle Rounds and Live Performances. The ads were tailor-made for each of the rounds, from the script to the visual cues, immersing our viewers in never-seen-before entertainment.

The sponsorship didn’t stop there… we tackled many complementary aspects of the show to make sure we created an integrated and immersive experience and clearly reinforced the break message.

On YouTube, we targeted people searching for re-runs of the program and urged them to skip the ad, so that the chairs could enjoy a peaceful break.

In malls, we tricked people by having a replica of the chairs come to life and surprise them when they sat on them for a break.

The campaign expanded to in-store promos, E-commerce, radio, stunt and social, where we had “behind the scenes” featuring funny content of the chairs on a break.

By creating content viewers would not only consume but actually enjoy watching, the Break Hijack ensured KITKAT was top of mind.

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.