Although a Hershey bar, a Snickers, or even a Twix may be some of the most well-known candy bars of all time, Time Magazine states that hands down the Kit Kat is the first bar to reach a global following causing it to become the most influential candy bar of all time. Although this crunchy, breakable, wafer-filled chocolate is surely a delight, how did this seemingly unassuming candy bar reach such a global market? Turns out quite a few ingenious marketing strategies spanning decades can be directly attributed to the Kit Kat’s international success.
The most successful of all marketing strategies used by Nestle (the owner of the Kit Kat brand, except in the United States) was the concept of the candy being marketed around sharing, turning the candy into a social snack. Typically consisting of fingers of wafer covered milk chocolate, each finger can be snapped from the bar separately, making the bar much easier to break apart and share. This has been a much more effective strategy than say, Snickers whose marketing campaign is based on the notion that the chocolate can soothe a raging hunger capable of turning people into a flamboyant diva.
Another key marketing strategy utilized by the makers of Kit Kat caused it to become one of the first candy bars to attain a global following. The early 2000s was a turning point for the entire confectionary industry in general as the popularity of lob card diets and healthy eating increased drastically and demand for candy bars and sugary treats drastically declined. To counter this, dramatically increasing the number of new and unique variations of the Kit Kat and market them as limited edition to not deter from the sales of permanent edition Kit Kats became Nestle’s solution. These new editions and unique flavors became widely popular in Japan and in a slew of other nations across the globe. Some of the most popular, uniquely Japanese flavors include wasabi, green tea, sweet potato, soy sauce, and banana flavors. The Japanese often give Kit Kats as good luck charms as the name resembles the term “Kitto Katsu” translated to “surely win” and even has an entire store solely dedicated to this influential candy. Search for the term “Kit Kat” and “India” or any other nation and many other unique flavors will show up as well.
Not only through variations in the chocolate itself has the Kit Kat become such a confectionary success, but through its television ad base as well. The “Gimme a Break” jingle has been in use since 1986 and still is used in Kit Kat TV campaigns today. And chances are you can hum it by heart. In fact in 1987 it came in 30th for the “100 Greatest Adverts of All Time”. Here’s the video to the first campaign that gave the Kit Kat that title.
Despite these ingenious strategies, the success of the Kit Kat would not have been nearly as effective without its head start years before competitors. Its origins go all the way back to 1911. And, as a British candy, markets were reached in Europe, the U.S., and Australia years before such influence was established by many other confectioners. And today Kit Kat continues to grow and maintain global influence as last year Google’s Android announced its new operating system would be called “KitKat”.
So what do you think- would you have considered the Kit Kat a globally influential candy? What’s your favorite chocolate bar? What other wacky flavors of Kit Kat have you heard of? We want to know!
