Break 1: Brand Identity

For the very first assignment, we researched into Nestle's Kit Kat origin and its process behind the brand. We then assessed Kit Kat's global and localized business strategy. Afterwards, we generated words which are mainly associated towards Kit Kat as a brand and used it to analyze Kit Kat's current standing in CBBE Pyramid.

Please refer to the History link (which can also be found on our home page) to find out more about Kit Kat's origins and please refer to the following five links below for our analysis.

From the research that has been conducted by our team, we find that Nestlé’s Global Kit Kat Team has implemented international strategy by producing limited editions in different part of market regions. In addition, the Global Team has been using ‘Have a Break, Have a Kit Kat’ tagline for more than 50 years.

In Singapore, Nestle has been investing in Digital Media advertising by implementing a ‘Social Break Widget’ that helps users to connect to their own Facebook and Twitter account. By doing so, Nestle is trying to generate a ‘buzz’ among social media users in Singapore.

Kit Kat differentiates itself by offering its product in multiple product packaging sizes that facilitate limited editions produced across the globe. Moreover, the chocolate comes in various sizes and shapes such as one-stick, two-stick, four-stick, and chunky bars. More information related to Points of Parity and Points of Difference can be found in the Brand Positioning section below.

In regards to Brand Knowledge, Kit Kat is largely associated with the word ‘Break’. This is largely due to its marketing tagline. Finally, relating to CBBE Pyramid, Kit Kat has a moderately strong brand awareness as it is one of the brands recalled my consumers, but not the first brand. Kit Kat also has one of the largest market shares in Singapore confectionary industry.

Global Business Strategy

Nestle’s Kit Kat aspires to be a leading global confectionery brand. Nowadays, Kit Kat is produced within 21 countries by Nestle, including Germany, UAE, Egypt, Indonesia, Venezuela, and Japan. In USA, Kit Kat is produced by The Hershey Company, due to a prior licensing agreement with Rowntree Corporation.

Kit Kat owes much of its success to its unique appeal and common availability, as two- and four-finger biscuits sold in convenience stores, corner shops, and supermarkets. The brand has thrived in global market for the past 75 years because of its attraction across different age ranges and both genders.

Kit Kat’s unique selling points are implemented through the following global brand strategies:

- Different Varieties & Limited Editions – flavour, forms, and shapes

- Making it widely available

- Well known tagline: ‘Have a Break, Have a Kit Kat’

Different Variants & Limited Edition

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For the last couple of years, Nestle has been producing numerous limited editions for Kit Kat, such as Kit Kat Chunky Peanut Butter and Kit Kat Green Tea Chocolate. Different variants in the traditional chocolate bar first appeared in 1996 when Kit Kat Orange was introduced in United Kingdom. Its success was followed by several varieties including caramel.

In Japan, there are more than 40 different flavours available, including Wasabi, Strawberry Cheesecake, Lemon Vinegar, and Cucumber. In China, it is sold in plastic bag due to the humid weather in the region.

Limited editions are used to attract consumers. Market research has shown that loyal consumers prefer special editions to be available for a limited time only. Consumers are likely to purchase the original Kit Kat at the same time or shortly after. Therefore, this strategy is a good way to test a new market as well as prolong Kit Kat's product life cycle. The Kit Kat Chunky Bar has proved so popular that the product is now permanently available in the global market.

Common Availabilities

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Nestle's global Kit Kat team has developed distribution channels which ensure the availability of Kit Kat wherever and whenever the consumer wishes to purchase it. As a matter of fact, sales of confectionery products depend heavily on its availability, with market research showing that more than 60 percent of purchases are made on impulse. Therefore, Nestle tries to supply Kit Kat products to as many outlets as possible, both wholesalers and retailers channels.

Internationally, Kit Kat is available in more than 100 countries throughout the world.

'Have a Break, Have a Kit Kat'

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The first use of tagline 'Have a Break, Have a Kit Kat', written by Donald Gilles' agency, can be traced back into May 1957. A year later, it was used on the very first television advertising by the brand and ever since has been a staple of the campaign for the chocolate bar.

Today, the tagline is one of the most important communication tools for the brand. Its incorporated inside its product packaging and is featured in the media advertisements and marketing campaigns. For instance, in the Singapore's TV advertisement, it depicts a supermarket cashier taking a break with a Kit Kat. This tagline also incorporates the youthful and fun nature of the brand.

Marketing Strategy

Nestlé is seeking to invest in the digital medium significantly for the first time and has developed a specific digital brief for its KITKAT™ brand accordingly. This represents a huge directional change in the advertising approach for Nestlé’s flagship brand and would help to position the company at the forefront of digital advertising in the confectionery and FMCG sectors.

Most recently in Singapore, the campaign "Yer Big Break" called out to youths to create an original piece of art which shows their interpretation of taking a break and ran on outdoor advertising and Facebook.

The campaign was also a collaboration with three local artists to showcase their work in Nestle Kit Kat's channels and buses. The artworks by these artists have been used on bags and notebooks as well.

Winners of the competition won $1000 cash and their design was exhibited, produced and distributed island-wide. The campaign lasted until August when the winner’s work was showcased on the buses.

Kit Kat's Facebook page currently has 44,716 likes. The page is constantly updated with news regarding promotions, prizes, games, and public holiday-related arts.

Kit Kat has also created a Social Break widget which helps users to automatically keep their account updated on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. The Facebook portion automatically “likes” any photos or updates that are tagged with a particular user's name. The Twitter helper automatically replies to Tweets with a relevant response randomly chosen from a list. The LinkedIn helper automatically shares the posts that the user's contacts have shared. Says the copy: Now it is possible to seem intelligent without even lifting a finger.

In addition, XM/JWT Singapore has created a Christmas Facebook app for Kit Kat that gives young Singaporeans a chance to create fun, festive mischief with a series of witty online gifts designed to deliver a smile.

Aimed at the youth market, this digital campaign leverages quirky, dark holiday humour. When Facebook users click on the app, a giant, flaming candy machine plummets from the sky, landing squarely on Santa himself. Users pull a lever on the machine and out pops a series of 13 shareable gifts, ranging from sarcastic Christmas cards, goofy card tricks and a time machine hairdo' that snaps onto photos of friend that users select from their Facebook albums. The tongue-in-cheek gifts appear on their friend's wall. The tagline reads: "For a Christmas that's more naughty than nice. Have a break, have a Kit Kat."

Website Marketing

The Singapore Kit Kat website as of present moment has only a flashed-based game where a player has to take photos of panda bears. Each time a player misses a shot, the energy bar of the character player controls depletes by a certain amount. Once the energy bar is empty, a character that player controls snacks on Kit Kat (has a break) and after a short amount of time, the energy bar is refilled.

Brand Positioning

“Broad in appeal, young in feel, big in stature.” This quote encompasses the brand positioning of Kit Kat.

Target Market

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Kit Kat’s target market is men and women of all ages. The brand is youthful in nature, and focuses on the consumer segment who love chocolate, and are willing to indulge themselves with chocolaty snacks. What draws consumers to this brand is its association with “breaks” due to its tag line “Have a Break, Have a Kit Kat”. It’s low prices, constant over the past 100 years, allows it to target the mass consumer market, as opposed to other high-end chocolate brands such as Godiva.

Competitor Analysis:

Kit Kat is owned by Nestlé SA which also owns a range of other product brands, e.g. baby food, bottled water, cereals, coffee, etc. In 2012, Nestlé’s company share in Singapore’s confectionary market was 9.4%. This has remained fairly constant since 2009, following a drop from 10.1% in 2007 to 9.6% in 2008. This shows us that introduction of competitor brands, as well as increased in market share in existing competitor brands such as Ferrero Group since 2009 has led to a drop in brand share for Nestlé.

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This is depicted by the bar chart showing company shares by global brand owner. As can be seen, overall since 2007, Ferrero Group and Mars Inc.’s brand shares have increased whereas Nestlé SA’s brand shares have reduced.

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Brand Analysis

As can be seen via the brand shares table below, despite the decrease in Nestlé’s company shares in Singapore’s confectionary market since 2007, the brand share of Kit Kat has increased from 2007, from 3.2% to 3.7%. However, it still lags behind competitors such as Ferrero Rocher, Ricola, Fisherman’s Friend and Mentos in the confectionary market. However, through filtering out of products such as Ricola, Fisherman’s Friend and Mentos, which are not chocolate brands, it can be seen that Kit Kat is second behind Ferrero Rocher.

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The comparison of change in brand shares between Ferrero Rocher and Kit Kat can further be seen in the chart below. Our team chose M&Ms as the second brand competitor as Cadbury had insufficient data based on the brand shares table. Furthermore, in the Company Shares by Global Brand Owner table, it can be seen that Mars Inc. is Nestlé’s second competitor. Applying this to the brand shares table, we chose to compare Kit Kat to M&M’s, which is owned by Mars Inc.

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Kit Kat vs. Ferrero Rocher vs. M&M’s:

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How Kit Kat Differentiates Itself?

Points of Parity (POP):

1. Wafer: Kit Kat’s use of wafer is a POP as though it may not be unique to the brand as M&M’s also has a version which uses wafers, it is one of the key features which is associated with Kit Kat. On the other hand, M&M’s key feature is its small, round and colorful look, and Ferrero Rocher is known for its spherical

2. Milk / Dark / White Chocolate: Kit Kat’s use of milk, dark and white chocolate variances in its products is a POP for the brand as it is one of the features which helps Kit Kat target a range of different consumers. This feature is also seen in Ferrero Rocher, which provides milk and dark chocolate variations. On the other hand, M&Ms provides a range of flavors through its difference in fillings: plain chocolate, peanut, and wafer.

3. Packaging size varies: Kit Kat’s two-stick and four-stick versions come in varying package sizes and types. Boxes of twelve and twenty-four are common for both the two-stick and four-stick versions, as are long packets containing six to nine of the two-stick version of Kit Kat.

We feel that this is something which differentiates Kit Kat as the normal size M&M’s come in three packet sizes, one newly released box format and the mini sized M&M’s come in a single column. On the other hand, Ferrero Rocher comes in either large boxes, or its newly released three-in-a-box size.

Points of Difference (POD):

1. Wafer stick: our team feels that the fact that Kit Kat is essentially a wafer stick is one of they key PODs for the brand. Though M&M’s has a version that incorporates wafer, we feel that being a chocolate wafer stick is a unique attribute for Kit Kat. On the other hand, Ferrero Rocher is primarily recognized for incorporating Almonds into the centre of the chocolate. The newly released Ferrero Rocher dark chocolate version has a chocolaty centre.

2. Associated with snacks: Kit Kat is often associated with the word “snack”, as opposed to Ferrero Rocher and M&M’s which are primarily associated with being chocolates, a sweet. Kit Kat was able to achieve the “snack” status as a result of its highly recognized tagline “Have a Break, Have a Kit Kat”.

Furthermore, Kit Kat is considered more affordable in comparison to Ferrero Rocher which is considered one of the higher-end chocolates.

3. The chocolate comes in various sizes: we feel that this is another key POD for Kit Kat compared to Ferrero Rocher and M&M’s. Kit Kat has many versions: the single stick version, two-stick, four-stick, and chunky – which is a larger version of single stick. On the other hand, M&M’s only come in normal and mini size and Ferrero Rocher have a fixed size for each chocolate.

Salience

The breadth of brand awareness is strong as consumers consider Kit Kat as an option when making choices in varied product categories such as chocolates, snacks and biscuits.

The depth of brand awareness is moderately strong as the brand is not at the top of mind when consumers consider purchasing chocolates or snacks; Kit Kats target product categories. However, Kit Kat is comparatively strong in its strength and clarity with regards to category membership, placing among the top 5 brands that customers would recall in these categories.

Brand Performance

Performing consistently well across various benchmark categories, Kit Kat has a good brand performance rating.

Its standardized international recipe allows it to maintain a consistent taste and flavour across geographical markets. It has an above-average shelf life, having a “BEST BEFORE” period of 1 year. (Most milk chocolates have shelf lives of 6-8 months)

In terms of pricing, Kit Kat has performed outstandingly well, having not raised the “Real price” of a finger for over 100 years.

For the more health conscious, Kit Kat is one of the least calorie heavy chocolates. The recommended serving size of two fingers has a calorie count of only 90 kcal. (In comparison, a serving of Ferrero Rocher has 220 Kcal while M&M’s carry 250 Kcal.)

Brand Imagery

The Kit Kat brand evokes two main types Its is one of those unique brands that delivers a message of being young at heart, and yet has an universal appeal. By keeping its price constant over the past 100 years, it has managed to be perceived as an affordable, “for everyone” brand.

With the help of its famous slogan “Have a break, Have a Kit Kat” and strong associated marketing, Kit Kat has wormed its way into consumers’ minds as a break time snack/chocolate. Today, men women and children of all ages automatically think Kit Kat, whenever they think about a break- time snack.

Brand Judgement

Kit Kat is a well-loved brand with consumers judging it to deliver good quality at affordable prices. Its youthful vibes and strong associations with taking a break, make it relevant to consumers living fast-lives

in a constantly changing world. Its rich history and long lasting legacy have helped it become perceived as a superior brand than its immediate competitors.

Brand Feelings

Having grown up with the brand, and possessing strong memories associated with it, most consumers have positive feelings about Kit Kat. They think of Kit Kat as a fun, youthful brand that can lighten up their day. It’s a brand that evokes feelings of laid-backness, of taking a step away from the demands of everyday life.

Brand Perception

As a brand, Kit Kat strongly resonates with consumers. Consumers grow up eating Kit Kat, associating many of their cherished childhood memories with the brand. Repeat Purchases of Kit Kat helps them re-visit these memories and evokes strong feeling of warmth, youthfulness and comfort in them.

As a confectionary product, Kit Kat has a unique taste and comes in an attractive packaging that make it a strong candidate for repeat purchases. Consumers have often spoken of feelings of Kit Kat mania: the craving for a Kit Kat immediately after eating one.

Break 2 - Determining Brand Perception and Role of Breaks in Consumers Lives

Research Methodology

For this research study, our group conducted two different surveys using an online survey platform to host the surveys – Qualtrics. The two surveys we conducted were:

· Kit Kat Survey: this survey was used to better understand the consumers perceptions of Kit Kat

· Break Survey: this survey was used to better understand consumers perceptions of the breaks they take and which brands they use when they take breaks

This information allowed us to better understand:

· Overall brand perception of Kit Kat

· Which chocolate brands have a key role in the market – based on consumer feedback

· Which qualities consumers thought were unique to Kit Kat

· How Kit Kat fares compared to other brands on different quality measures

· How consumers spend their breaks and relax and whether Kit Kat can better appeal to users in this particular area

Online Survey:

Our group hosted the two surveys on Qualtrics – an online survey platform. The links were then distributed to different people of varying backgrounds, e.g. age, occupation, race, etc. within Singapore. In order to ensure that consumers were not primed prior to competing either survey, different people were asked to complete either survey. This ensures completely independent answers for the surveys. For the Kit Kat survey, we received a total of 60 surveys, and for the Break survey we got 75 respondents.

Stage 1 - Segmentation

After doing considerable research, our team has calculated that Kit Kat’s NOPAT in 2011 was S$810,000. Though Kit Kat’s is targeting every age segment in the community, we have confirmed that the largest segments of Kit Kat buyers are consumers of the ages 35-54, who have children aged 18 and below. As a result, we have decided to put this segment (age 35-54) as the top buyer in our analysis with 41.7% of the total market segmentation. In addition, our analysis is also influenced by the demographic population data of Singapore – currently most of the local citizens are from age 35 to 54. This creates a huge potential base of customers who have grown up eating Kit Kat.

The next market segmentations, aged 12-17 and aged 18-24, are derived from the results of our quantitative study (Diary of Chocolate Experience). It indicates that Kit Kat brand has high familiarity with teenagers and young adults in Singapore, due to the fun and quirky nature of the brand. This is reflected from their funny TV commercials and their online marketing strategy. Furthermore, we believe that teenagers and tertiary students/young adults are increasingly independent in deciding which products to buy. As a result, age 12-17 and age 18-24 segments are put in the second and third category (18.6% and 18% of total segmentation, respectively).

According to our perception, Kit Kat is not considered as a premium confectionery brand. For young professionals (aged 25-34), we concluded that with increased earnings, they would prefer to have variety in chocolates and purchase premium brands. Hence, there is a higher tendency for them to try chocolates or confectioneries with more sophisticated brand characteristics, such as Godiva or Royce. This is the reason why we put the segment aged 25-34 as our fourth segment (12.7%).

Along the same line, senior citizens (age 55 and above) are not the main target for Kit Kat brand in Singapore, due to its brand characteristics and persona. Thus, this category is the smallest segment (only 9%).

Stage 2 - Financial Analysis

In regards to the expected annual percentage growth for Kit Kat in Singapore, we have investigated its growth for the last 4 years. It seems that the brand enjoys a small but constant growth in the market. When our team went to the Nestle Office, we learnt that the brand is committed to develop future marketing strategies, especially in online and social media marketing. Since we know that there is a developed preference for social media (Facebook and Twitter) across all segments in Singapore, we predict that there could be annual future growth from around 2% (for teenagers and tertiary students with spending power) to 3.2% (for adults age 35 to 54). Likewise, young professionals, who are technology savvy, will contribute about 3% of Kit Kat Singapore annual growth due to the success of the marketing strategies. However, we believe that senior citizens are less receptive to new technologies. Hence, there could be an annual decrease in the market (- 0.2%) for the next 5 years.

Stage 3 - Role of the Brand

We obtained Kit Kat’s Role of Branding Index (RBI) based on our estimation of growth of income and social tendencies of our segments.

Role of Brand Index (RBI) measures how the brand influences customer demand at the point of purchase. Based on information available, the highest RBI is attributable to students and professionals who are aged between 18 and 24 years old segment – 75%. We can explain this high RBI result through the fact that people in this segment are constantly exposed to Kit Kat in convenience stores and cafeterias which are located near the institutions they would usually visit (Universities, Junior Colleges, Polytechnics, and Companies). Also, income for this segment is low and seldom people from this age group would opt for premium chocolate brands.

The lowest RBI result comes from senior citizens aged above 55 segment – 50%. This segment is generally conservative and would choose only brands which are time-tested. However, this segment is concerned primarily with performance of a certain brand. For our brand, senior citizens would be looking for taste and consistency of the brand. Also, trial rate for this segment is very low which means that it is generally difficult for new brands of FMCG products to tackle this segment.

Stage 4 - Brand Strength

Internal Factors

Clarity: Kit Kat’s brand strategy is very clear on its values and propositions. The organisation is very clear on whom they target and how are they going to reach these target customers. The social media strategy and the focus on the youth is a case in-point.

Commitment: Nestle, even with its large portfolio of brands, is strongly committed to Kit Kat. Kit Kat is a profitable sector for the organisation. Nestle provides adequate time, influence and investment. This has resulted in Kit Kat being one of the brands synonymous with Nestle.

Responsiveness: Kit Kat is very responsive to market changes. It has constantly evolved the product while keeping the core essentials in place. It has introduced new flavours constantly, as a promotional strategy and evolved its marketing campaign to suit the social media segment which is now its main focus.

Protection: The brand is moderately protected in terms of ingredients and design scale. It has spawned imitators such as Take-It which copy the wafer chocolate. Due to different areas of production, the ingredients vary. This causes a change in flavour and lack of uniformity in taste. However, the Kit Kat brand name and the distinctive red, white and silver packaging is well-protected.

External Factors

Relevance: Kit Kat has a high level of relevance with its customers. It meets the needs of chocolate lovers by providing a different type of wafer chocolate with a distinctive taste. It is widely available and caters to all demographics. It fulfils the desire of relaxation.

Authenticity: The brand has a high level of capability. The heritage of Kit Kat is well-known and has clearly defined values. It has always delivered on the expectations which customers have with Kit Kat.

Differentiation: The brand is clearly differentiated from its competitors. It is positioned as a chocolate for the masses. It has a clear youth target market. It is distinctive in the minds of the consumers.

Consistent: Kit Kat has a highly consistent product and image. The ‘Have a Break, have a Kit Kat’ is a message which resonates throughout the world. The wafer chocolate is the distinctive chocolate which is sold with variations to localise and innovate.

Presence: Kit Kat does not rate highly on its omnipresence. Though it has strong recall amongst consumers, the positive imagery is low. Some consumers feel Kit Kat is starting to lose the strong association with the youth despite its marketing activities aimed at them. It is no longer one of the highly discussed brands in either traditional or social media.

Understanding: Kit Kat is highly recognized by consumers across the globe. There is good in-depth understanding of its qualities and characteristics. Consumers have good knowledge of the owner of Kit Kat which is Nestle. This creates a good symbiotic relationship and helps the Nestle and Kit Kat brand.

Salience imbalance: Do I know you correctly?

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Ideally, Kit Kat wants to establish strong brand salience in the minds of consumers. This equates to an aspiration of ranking high in terms of both depth as well as breadth of awareness.

However, our quantitative research shows that while Kit Kat does indeed enjoy strong awareness depth with high levels of recognition and recall among the survey respondents, it has moderate to low breadth of awareness in their minds.

The problem: What is a break?

Kit Kat has always tried hard to associate itself as a break-time chocolate in its consumers’ minds. Its various brand elements as well as related advertising and promotional strategies have all carried associations with ‘breaks’. By employing this strategy, the brand has tried to achieve consumer recall and consumptions whenever they have a break.

However, the definition of “break” has not remained the same over the years. While the brand has always intended for the ‘break’ concept to hold an encompassing meaning covering any situation in which a person deviates from his normal routine tasks (as gleaned by analyzing advertisements over the years), most respondents in our survey have associated “break” with more conventional meanings such as “lunch” or “dinner” breaks.

As a consequence, consumers are unable to recall the brand in many relevant purchase and usage situations.

Possible solution

Convey the broader definition of ‘break’ through advertisements and marketing campaigns specifically designed for this purpose. By exposing the consumers to Kit Kat’s definition of a break, it should be able to slowly change the consumers’ associations to the types of breaks that can be taken.

Disconnected brand imagery and feelings: Is that really you?

Kit Kat’s desired positioning can be easily summarized in one line: Broad in Appeal, Young in Feel, and Big in Stature (from the Brand Frenzy workshop). To achieve this positioning, the brand has tried to depict itself as having a young, fun and quirky personality that appeals to everyone.

However, consumers are not feeling the same way about the brand. From both our qualitative research as well as consultation with the Kit Kat brand managers, we have found out that parents make up our largest group of loyal customers. And this goes on to reinforce the idea that Kit Kat is a boring, old-school, and outdated brand.

The problem: Are we young or are we old?

The disconnection between brand imagery and brand feelings stem from two main factors:

1. Irrelevance and mismatch of brand elements:-

Kit Kat has been using the same brand elements for over 50 years. Prolonged use of these elements, without any sort of innovation or re-invention has led to an element “mismatch” in the minds of today’s consumers.

For example, the iconic panda advertisements in the 1980s were a great tool that reinforced the brand’s quirky image back then. However, in today’s context, it bears absolutely no relevance to the brand in the minds of the consumers, based on team discussions during the Brand Frenzy workshop.

2. Lack of compatibility with associated memories:-

As mentioned previously, most of our survey respondents did not associate the terms ‘fun’ or ‘quirky’ with Kit Kat. Also, we know from our consultation with the Kit Kat brand managers that parents are our most loyal group of customers. When analysing these two things together, we realized that this caused their current feelings toward Kit Kat to stem from the fact that many of them had been exposed to the brand very early in their lives—as kids, when their parents and grandparents bought them Kit Kats. This tended to bring ‘nostalgia’ into their minds rather than ‘fun’ or ‘quirky’.

Possible solution:

Develop and customize marketing campaigns for the brand so that it is aimed at the junior colleges, polytechnics, and tertiary institutions in Singapore. By running promotions and fun activities on campus, Kit Kat would be able to convey to its target customers the intended associations for Kit Kat.

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Low brand resonance: So what about us?

Due to the above-mentioned tactical gaps, the brand hasn’t been able to establish itself in its consumers’ minds and hearts. Most consumers bear no strong attraction with the brand. While they might like the taste of the product, we found out from our quantitative research, that they easily switch their allegiance to competitor brands. Simply put, there is no form of personal connection that consumers enjoy with Kit Kat unlike its competitor such as Ferrero Rocher.

Having addressed the problems mentioned above, Kit Kat needs to launch a concerted effort to reestablish itself within the hearts and minds of its consumers, thereby regain its brand following once more.

Strategic Gaps

The aim of a strategic brand analysis is to answer some critical questions. It helps the brand decide on whether it should change or adopt its brand positioning and identity to another one that is more appropriate and representative of itself. This is a very important step for a brand to go through as it helps it to become successful in facing competing brands while at the same time addressing future consumer trends and innovations.

Low Availability in Consumers’ Mindset

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The very first strategic gap that we identified is low availability in the consumers’ mindset. According to our quantitative analysis, Kit Kat’s brand availability is significantly lower than that of Ferrero Rocher and M&M. This is quite contradictive to Kit Kat’s international distribution strategy – selling the products via multiple channels (supermarkets, hypermarkets, and convenience stores) to ensure its availability. Additionally, our own regular store visits have shown that availability is actually quite high. In fact, there tend to be more than one location in a store where the products are displayed. As such we believe that there is a mismatch between the consumers’ perception and what Kit Kat is trying to achieve here in terms of availability.

Our suggestion…

As mentioned above, Kit Kat indeed has strong brand availability. An area where improvements can be made could be the prominence of the product displays in the convenience stores and supermarkets. In order to attract the attention of the customers in the store, the displays could include a mini cutout that

clearly indicates the presence of Kit Kat to the customers. In addition to attracting more potential buyers, this will be able to increase a sense of product omnipresence among the consumers’ minds.

Strong Awareness but Weak Associations with Product

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Most of chocolate consumers in Singapore know Kit Kat very well as a brand. They are well aware of Kit Kat’s brand image through their television commercials over the last decades (especially the karaoke version), which projects fun and cheerful characteristics.

Yet, based on our quantitative analysis, neither ‘fun’ nor ‘cheerful’ was associated to Kit Kat in Singapore. However, associations relating to the product itself such as ‘wafer’ and ‘fingers’ were more prominent. As a result, there is significant gap in terms of what the brand wants to project to its consumers and what the consumers are actually associating with the products.

Our suggestion…

Few years ago, the “Yer’ Big Break” campaign was successfully executed in Singapore to promote Kit Kat’s fun and cheerful characteristics among youngsters in Singapore. In this case, based on our discussion during the Brand Frenzy workshop, we suggest that the brand create another integrated marketing communication campaign with following theme: ‘Forever reinventing breaks’.

Mismatched Understanding of Breaks

As a matter of fact, ‘Have a Break, Have a Kit Kat’ is effectively recognized as its unique brand tagline. This completely shows that Kit Kat has high brand awareness among the consumers. Nevertheless, we found that the brand has a weak association with the real ‘break’ context. According to our quantitative survey, most of the respondents do not buy Kit Kat while they are having a break. Additionally, for most of our respondents, a ‘break’ tended to generally mean mealtimes or work/study breaks. This goes against the broader definition of ‘break’ that Kit Kat wants to project to the consumers, thereby revealing a gap in the understanding of breaks.

Our suggestion…

From our discussion during the Brand Frenzy workshop, we felt that one of the best ways to bridge this gap in the understanding of Kit Kat ‘breaks’ would be by conveying the message through their advertising. In this case, the advertising material will illustrate various ideas of breaks that Kit Kat wants to associate itself with. This, in theory, should help broaden the view of breaks in the minds of the consumers.

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Low Purchasing Quantity among Main Target

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From the analysis of qualitative research, we found that the more brand loyal customers are the parents who buy Kit Kat for their children. A factor that contributes to this is the nostalgia associated to Kit Kat due to its long presence in Singapore. However, after consulting with Kit Kat’s brand manager, we know that Kit Kat’s current target consumers are the youths between the ages of 18 to 24. This difference clearly shows that there is a gap among the target customers that need to be rectified.

Our suggestions…

In this case, we are suggesting Kit Kat develop marketing campaigns aimed at junior colleges, polytechnics, and tertiary institutions across Singapore. An example would be that while having break between or after lessons, Kit Kat could engage young consumers into some fun activities, thereby helping to increase the purchase quantity among this group.

The Brand Purpose

Based on the tactical and strategic gaps that we have identified, our team proposes that Kit Kat focus its activities on a new brand purpose. Kit Kat’s “Have a Break, Have a Kit Kat”, has become one of the most widely recognized brand taglines in the world. We feel that Kit Kat Singapore (KKS) could leverage on the success of this tagline to bring Kit Kat back into the minds of the consumers.

Despite Kit Kat penning the memorable tagline, marketing efforts have not focused on developing a connection between Kit Kat and taking a break in the consumers’ mind. Thus, we propose “Forever Reinventing Breaks” as the new brand purpose.

“Forever Reinventing Breaks”

KKS aims to target the 18 – 24 year old youth in Singapore – tertiary students and fresh grads. Keeping in mind the increased pressure on this age segment, both in the education and office environment to work long hours, we propose that KKS adopt a focus that emphasizes a message of going against “workaholism”.

As time goes by, Kit Kat’s brand loyal segment seems to be ageing. Our research and feedback from Kit Kat’s brand manager both suggest that Kit Kat’s key customer segment is parents who purchase the

chocolate for their children. These customers also have fond memories of Kit Kat from their childhoods, which drive their decision to purchase the brand.

However, today’s youth are indecisive. Brand loyalty is rarely a driver in their purchase decisions; instead “fads” and low prices are what attract these customers to many products. Feedback from quantitative and qualitative research and brand frenzy showed us that many of KKS’s target customers purchase chocolate based on “what they feel like” buying, or “which packaging looks good”. Even if they intend to buy Kit Kat, if they are unable to find it in the shop, they are likely to replace Kit Kat with a different product.

What KKS needs to do in the future is focus on creating a link in the minds of these indecisive customers – when they think about taking a “break”, they should immediately think of “Kit Kat”. Currently, based on quantitative research results, we found that when it comes to breaks, many of the target segments spend time on social networking websites and eating / drinking.

Where in terms of social networking, Facebook has a clearly established role in the consumers’ minds, in terms of eating / drinking, no product has an established role. In fact, we found that many customers, if eating / drinking during a break look to products such as Coffee, Tea, or Kit Kat.

KKS can leverage on this gap in the market where no brand has attempted to establish a position in the customers’ minds when it comes to taking a break and eating. Kit Kat, being a light and small snack has clear potential to be a front-runner in this area.

To communicate this to the target market, KKS should focus on the “Forever Reinventing Breaks” purpose to develop connections in the consumers’ minds from different breaks to Kit Kat. Breaks should no longer just be the normal, “15 minute tea / coffee break”, “movie break”, or “clubbing break”. KKS needs to focus on getting Kit Kat into the minds of consumers when it comes to taking a break from these breaks. The meaning of breaks and when to “have a break, [and] have a Kit Kat” needs to be expanded, not only in KKS’s own marketing efforts, but also in the minds of the consumers.

Since Singapore’s youth are increasingly following the cookie-cutter roles that are expected of them in society, Kit Kat should position itself as a fun brand. KKS consumers should be urged to take a break from their busy schedules to indulge in eating a Kit Kat. Taking Kit Kat Breaks should be depicted as taking a break from the workaholic attitudes of today’s youth, allowing the youth to let their hair down and dance out of sync. Take a break from their monotonous schedule for just a few minutes of quick indulgence that would bring joy to their lives.

Currently, KKS has attempted to reach out to these consumers through the use of Facebook and their social media ticker. Regular updates and giveaways have allowed them to communicate directly with Singapore’s youth, but their social media ticker has gone against their own motto. The social media ticker is set such that if a consumer grants permission, it will automatically like every (e.g.) status that is published by a certain “friend”, or like every other post that appears on the users homepage. Though the idea is fun, feedback from brand frenzy has shown that users think this is “creepy”.

Kit Kat’s motto is “Have a break, have a Kit Kat”, and this ticker allows customers to continue working, yet at the same time make it ‘seem’ as though they are on Facebook—indulging in a social media break. However, this is contradictory to the concept of taking a break. These users may not open their Facebook accounts for weeks, yet the ticker would be updating their Facebook activities.

Taking all of this into account, we believe that if KKS focuses on the new “Forever Reinventing Breaks” motto, there is a real potential to establish strong associations in the customers’ minds of Kit Kat in different break situations, which would result in stronger brand resonance.

Brand Promise

Team Win! believes that breaks are a universal truth. Breaks may take different appearances for different people, but it means the same thing for all of us. It is an opportunity to lighten up our lives, take a step back, and enjoy that moment of pure, unadulterated freedom that we so lack in our lives in today’s fast-as-light world. And Kit Kat shall be that universal symbol of break.

Our ultimate goal is to communicate the idea of these different forms of breaks.

We have come up with brand strategies that take into account our brand purpose and brand promise. The new reinvented target of our brand is going to be the youth segment aged between 18 and 24 years old as these are the people who place a great deal of importance on reinvention.

While retaining the memorable tagline of ‘Have a Break, Have a Kit Kat,’ we shall be implementing some major changes that will seek to further strengthen the relationship between the Kit Kat brand and the consumers.

All the ideas developed for this section has been inspired from our previous assignment, where we identified our brand’s strategic and tactical gaps. Essentially, by trying to close these gaps, we believe that we can create a CBBE pyramid where the consumers will be able to climb all the way to the top.

This assignment has been basically divided into two sections, our Growth Strategy and our New Marketing Campaign. Under the first section, Growth Strategy, we’ve looked further into our universal truth and our new brand strategies. In the New Marketing Campaign section, we have outlined our proposed new marketing campaigns and also included a new brand valuation based on the reinvented branding strategies.

Growth Strategy

The Universal Truth

A break. That’s a universal truth. No matter what a person’s age, race, gender. Where they come from, what they like to do, whom they like. Rich or poor, abled or disabled, liberal or conservative, everyone deserves a break. Each of them might define their breaks differently.

For some, it might be that moment between classes or after a long and hard-fought battle with an exam or project. For others, it may be that moment when they crash on their couch after a full day’s work or when they step onto the beach for a well-deserved vacation. For others yet, it may be that pause between chapters from a book, where they can go grab a snack or the few minutes between songs at a party where they can grab a drink and chat with friends.

These are just a few instances of breaks out of the inconceivable many others that are out there. Whenever someone wants a break, they shall get it. Through Kit Kat.

The Ultimate Positioning

“Breaks may take different appearances for different people, but it means the same thing for all of us. It is an opportunity to lighten up our lives, take a step back, and enjoy that moment of pure, unadulterated freedom that we so lack in our lives in today’s fast-as-light world. And Kit Kat shall be that universal symbol of break.”

With the new brand promise firmly in place, we will be breathing life and commitment into it through our new campaigns. The main aim of the campaigns will be to re-establish a relationship and sense of emotional connection between Kit Kat and the consumers. Our first major campaign ‘Forever Reinventing Breaks’ will take an out of the box approach to the idea of break, thereby breaking away from the typical associations of a break. Once this new idea is established in the consumers’ minds, our subsequent campaign’s goal then will focus on strengthening that connection.

While the focus of the campaign is the Singapore market, the new campaign has flexibility to be used on a global scale, due to the use of our universal truth. It is extremely important to reestablish Kit Kat’s connection with the Singapore consumers, and the success of this campaign will further provide a strong reason for the strategy to be used globally to strengthen the Kit Kat brand equity.

Brand Strategies

After analyzing how Kit Kat is currently promoted, we have come up with the following suggestions on how to improve the brand’s exposure and attractiveness to Singapore market.

Social Media Revamp

FACEBOOK OVERHAUL:

When we refer to social media, for Kit Kat's case, we specifically Social Media, which in Kit Kat’s case is the Facebook page, which needs a complete overhaul. The following are the problems that we have identified for the:

Content is not renewed as frequently as it should be:

Currently, Kit Kat updates its page at an average rate of once per week. While this rate may increase once in a while, it tends to also drop to about once a month on certain occasions. We feel that repeated exposure to the brand through regular Facebook updates is essential, and steps need to be taken to combat this problem.

Content doesn't provide variety and is repetitive

Normally, when one checks the Kit Kat Facebook wall, we would only be able to see updates on particular current events related to Kit Kat. To prove our point, currently, the page contains mostly only information regarding their latest 'Kit Kat London Invasion', in which a Kit Kat employee from Singapore travels around London and shares Kit Kats with strangers each time she enjoys a break. Besides this approach there are supposedly 'engaging' activities that are posted, but it quickly becomes stale in the eyes of the viewer.

Content is not engaging the 'fan' and other visitors

While the Kit Kat 'fan' on Facebook may get updates on the page, the contents don't provide any incentive for them to return to the page at a later time. Of course, this problem is bigger with the non-Kit Kat 'fan' as they already lack the updates provided by Kit Kat

SOLUTIONS: With that in mind, we suggest the following ideas which we think would help us to grow Kit Kat’s presence in Singapore’s social media arena:

Constantly update the page. Ideally, two times a day and never less than once every two days.

We think that Kit Kat should have some fun and relaxing reading materials that doesn't take up much time of the visitor. examples of such materials could be funny gags or inspiring articles, all of which must

be somehow related to the concept of break and enjoyment of life. This will provide additional measures to strengthen the connection between Kit Kat and its consumers. To note, the content should be varied on a regular basis so as to avoid being repetitive.

In order to increase visitor engagement in the page, we think that Kit Kat should be posting interesting facts about chocolate in general, its products, fun facts, and artworks from fans.

MASCOT REINVENTION

Our team believes that Kit Kat indeed needs a mascot. However, we also strongly support the idea that mascot should be as original and unique to the brand as possible. Currently, the Kit Kat mascot takes the form of a panda. There are several problems which we have identified with this:

A panda has no trait which conveys the message and symbol that Kit Kat stands for, which is taking a break.

The panda has an outdated association with Kit Kat due to the highly popular advertisement in 1980s. The current target market of Kit Kat has no recall of that advertisement as they were not even born at that time.

Currently, the panda mascot has very strong associations with organizations such as the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) and products such as Panda Cheese.

SOLUTION: Therefore, we think that the best solutions to the problem would be:

The panda should be dropped as a mascot for Kit Kat with immediate effect.

Start working on developing a new mascot which would be befitting for Kit Kat in terms of brand vision.

REMOVAL OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA TRACKER

Kit Kat’s social media tracker is an application for mobile devices which allows its user to automatically “like” or "share" a set number of statuses, updates, and pictures that appears on the user's notification wall. All of this happens without the user having to actually check the contents. In addition to posing the possibility of unknowingly 'sharing' spam material, we believe that the application is counter-effective to its goal. Kit Kat supports the idea of taking a break from the routine. However, with the tracker, a person is able to 'take a break' in the eyes of social media, but is ultimately giving up on an actual break.

Strategic Product Campaigns

FLAVORS

In the Japanese market today, there are a variety of Kit Kat flavors available. However, less than five flavors exist in the Singapore market currently. Although we do not want to replicate the Japanese model, we would like to take a page out of its book and have a few closely related flavors from milk and white chocolate such as:

Strawberry

Coffee

Green Tea

Mint

Hazelnut

Pineapple

Cookies and Cream

Royal Milk Tea

Cheesecake

These product introductions would refresh Kit Kat as a product. The target market of Kit Kat constantly wants to try something new. These interesting flavor introductions would constantly attract them to the brand to try a different flavor. Kit Kat can even build a marketing strategy around these flavors such as ‘Flavor of the Month’. The Facebook page then could be used to get votes on which flavor would they like to see next available in the market. This will increase the engagement with the consumers and make them feel a part of the brand.

PACKAGING

We have noticed that the packaging for Kit Kat in Singapore has not been consistent. We have encountered at least 3 or 4 different versions over the past few months. We think that there should be a unified packaging form that can be used as a selling factor. For example, there is a new packaging which forces customers to push Kit Kat bars sideways as opposed to pushing from back or front to reveal the bars. Because of that form factor, it is much harder for us to break Kit Kat now.

THE "BREAK-ING" MACHINE

These days vending machines have gone from selling only drinks to everything from chocolates, snacks, to sandwiches. Using this step up, Kit Kat can increase its availability by making the products available in snack vending machines across Singapore. Very often, when people take a break, they go to the vending machine to pick up something to munch. Kit Kat can even create an advertising campaign around this. The key message of the campaign would center on taking a break and having a Kit Kat, with a tie-in to the vending machine.

To take it one step further, Kit Kat may choose to have it's own separate vending machine. While this idea appealing, we realize that it's product line isn't extensive enough to allow this. Therefore, an alternative solution to this may be a combined 'Nestle Vending Machine'. There are both advantages and disadvantages to this method. The benefit here would be that Nestle would have its own exclusive vending machines for distributing its products. The machines could be located in universities, junior colleges and office areas such as Raffles and Changi Business Park, where people often are in a rush. These machines would essentially serve as Nestle’s exclusive shops where all Nestle products including Kit Kat are available. It would increase the reach of Nestle’s products and create positive effects on its brands such as Kit Kat.

On the downside, there could be possible cannibalization between Nestle's brands, including that of Kit Kat when it is put alongside other similar product offerings.

New Marketing Campaign

Campaign 1: Re-Defining a Break

Aim:-

Our research shows that over the years, consumers’ definitions of breaks have become more narrow and conventional. With the help of this marketing campaign, we plan to radically overhaul many of the perceptions (regarding breaks) that exist in their minds, as well as re-enforce the brand’s connection with breaks.

Description:

The campaign will feature two distinct phases:

Phase 1 of the campaign will be predominantly aimed toward establishing new perceptions in the minds of consumers regarding breaks and break time situations. Fun, quirky advertisements depicting unconventional concepts such as “Break from Gravity” or “Break From Boredom” will help widen the perceived breadth of break time situations.

Phase 2 of the campaign will be aimed towards reinforcing the brand’s association with “breaks” as well as building brand resonance. During this phase the brand will reach out to consumers and ask them to share stories regarding different situations in which they used the brand to take a break. The brand will then feature some of the innovative and original situations in a print, television and social-media advertising campaign.

Campaign 2: Be cool- Have a Kit Kat

Aim:-

According to our research, there is a growing disconnect between the brand and its 18-24 year old consumer segment. As they see many of their parents, grandparents and younger siblings using the brand, consumers in this segment do not think of the brand as being young or cool- associations critical to their purchase decisions, and cannot identify with the brand. With the help of this marketing campaign, we hope to re-connect the brand with this consumer group.

Description:-

Aimed to create associations of “young” ,“cool” and “relevant” in the minds of the target consumers, this advertising campaign will integrate television, print, social media as well as sponsorship aspects.

Endorsement: Prominent celebrities and role models will be roped in to endorse the brand. The brand will leverage upon their existing associations with “youth”, “coolness” and “fun” to create similar associations for itself.

Sponsorship: In a bid to present itself in a “fun” and “youthful” way, the brand will sponsor key “fun” events in local universities and polytechnics.

Advertisements: The brand will carry out an integrated print, social media and television campaign where we will depict cool and fun ways to take a break in situations relevant to the youth. For example, do the chicken dance in the club or sing your heart out in the shower...

Stage 4 - New Brand Strength

We expect the brand strength to improve significantly externally in terms of presence and understanding. Internally, protection of the brand will increase. This will lead to a better discount rate of 6.09%.

Internal Factors

Clarity: Clarity internally about what the brand stands for in terms of its values, positioning, and proposition. Clarity too about target audiences, customer insights, and drivers. Because so much hinges on this, it is vital that these are articulated internally and shared across the organization.

Commitment: Internal commitment to brand, and a belief internally in the importance of the brand. The extent to which the brand receives support in terms of time, influence, and investment.

Responsiveness: The ability to respond to market changes, challenges, and opportunities. The brand should have a sense of leadership internally and a desire and ability to constantly evolve and renew itself.

Protection: How secure the brand is across a number of dimensions: legal protection, proprietary ingredients or designm scale or geogrpahical spread.

External Factors

Relevance: The fit with customer/consumer needs, desires, and decision criteria across all relevant demographics and geographies.

Authenticity: The brand is soundly based on an internal truth and capability. It has a defined heritage and a well-grounded value set. It can deliver against the (high) expectations that customers have of it.

Differentiation: The degree to which customers/consumers perceive the brand to have a differentiated positioning distinctive from the competition.

Consistent: The degree to which a brand is experienced without fail across all toughpoints or formats.

Presence: The degree to which a brand feels omnipresence and is talked about positively by consumers, customers, and opinion formers in both traditional and social media.

Understanding: The brand is not only recognized by consumers, but there is also an in-depth knowledge and understanding of its distinctive qualities and characteristics. (Where relevant, this will extend to consumer understanding of the company that owns the brand).