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Mail & Door Drops
 

Kit Mail Hologram

Nestle Japan, Japan Post

Issue 39 | June 2016

Agency

J. Walter Thompson Japan

Creative Team

Creative Kohei Kawasaki Yuhei Takeyama Toshihiro Sekiguchi Yukino Miyatsu

Production Team

Production Yoshihiro Miyazaki Naoya Kaneko Fumi Nishida Yasuhiko Shimizu Jun Matarai Yuya Okazaki Masaya Fukui Hiroyuki Mitomo Shinya Nakagawa Kohei Omiya

Other Credits

Other Yasuhiko Yuasa Riki Kawanami Hironaga Yai

Date

March 2016

Background

In Japan, the name Kit Kat sounds similar to the Japanese phrase "Kitto Katsu", which means "will surely win". The brand had been thought of for many years as a good luck charm for students preparing for exams. They were often given to examinees by family, friends and teachers.

Examinations were not about competing with others but about the students facing themselves. Kit Kat wanted examinees to know that while they were dealing with anxiety and pressure, they did not have to feel completely alone.

Idea

Special Kit Kats were sold nationwide just before entrance exams. The packaging allowed friends and families to write supportive messages which they could then post to examinees.

Inside the package was a pyramid screen, as well as a Kit Kat bar. When this was placed on a smart phone and a YouTube video made by pop group DISH// played, the group turned into a singing, dancing hologram. The student would immediately be cheered by the words of encouragement from the band.

Awareness of the product was raised online through Kit Kat's Facebook page as well as in post-offices across the country.

Results

The special Kit Kat Hologram packs sold out.

Students who received Kit Kats went onto social media in their thousands to share the experience.

Total number of Tweets: 33,304 within one month of launch.

Sales increased 150%.

Our Thoughts

That's Japan for you: hard-working students power their studies with Kit Kats. In the UK, it's Red Bull, coffee and a wing and a prayer.

Kit Kat's enviable position as the default gift for the studious – perhaps built on a happy phonetic coincidence – must also come with a problem for J. Walter Thompson Asia. Every year it has to go one better and move the game on.

This is brilliant, simultaneously playing the tradition card, while also updating it with clever and appropriate use of technology. The media mix takes a similar approach, combining good old-fashioned mail with Youtube. J. Walter Thompson and Nestle must have been mighty relieved that they could create the hologram effect with cheap plastic and avoid making a great idea unaffordable.

There's a nice touch with the DISH// band too: the shade of their red suits looks suspiciously close to Kit Kat's pantone number.