The Campaign

In today’s busy world, encountering stress is inevitable. This is even more evident in the world of young urban professionals and millennials as they juggle and keep up with the demands of their jobs and other things. With this, the desire to escape and take a break has increased. KitKat, a brand that’s always been about having a break, decided to give them one. Introducing the Breaker Benches: whatever kind of break they wanted to take, there’s a KitKat bench made especially for it. These were installed in places where stressed out office workers needed their breaks the most—the country’s busiest business districts. The benches featured diverse breaks such as musical benches, a soccer bench, WIFI bench, phone-recharging bench, a seesaw bench and so much more. So now, with the Breaker Benches, whenever they thought of having a break, they had it with a KitKat.

Creative Execution

The Breaker Benches were placed right where people needed a break the most—in the country’s busiest business districts. For those who wanted a musical break, we made Piano, Guitar and Boom Box Benches. For those who needed uplifting, the Seesaw Bench was there. Those who wanted a sporty break kicked some balls with the Football Bench. Those who preferred a sci-fi kind of break enjoyed the TIE Fighter Bench. As the campaign rolled out, more benches were introduced to give breakers more reasons to have a break with KitKat. Several online films and TVC spots featuring the Breaker Benches generated further interest. A map was also put up on the KitKat.ph site and on the GPS app, Waze, to let others know where the benches are. With the Breaker Benches, these overworked professionals finally got to de-stress and have fun. More importantly, KitKat now became part of their breaks.

Results

By directly giving these overworked professionals what they needed, the Breaker Benches successfully won people’s breaks, generating record-breaking performance for KitKat. People excitedly shared their breaks and the excitement for the campaign generated more than 6.9 million views online (Facebook and Youtube) and over 262 million impressions across different social media platforms. More importantly, KitKat grew double digits and grew faster than the category in volume and value (24% and 21% respectively), ending 2015 with its highest volume sales in two years. At the height of the campaign, KitKat overtook Cadbury and Toblerone and became the most preferred imported chocolate brand. KitKat increased its past 4 weeks penetration by 20%, moving the brand’s rank from 5th to 3rd nationwide and 1st in Metro Manila.

No one deserves a break more than the stressed out office worker. KitKat, a brand that’s always been about having a break, wanted to help them de-stress with the Breaker Benches. Whatever kind of break they wanted to take, there’s a KitKat bench made for it—a musical bench, a soccer bench, a seesaw bench and so much more. These were placed right where they needed their breaks the most: the country’s busiest business districts. KitKat Breaker Benches directly reached out to overworked professionals and gave them the break they deserved at the right place, at the right time.

In recent years, research showed that we are living in the “Super Stress Era” with the World Health Organization calling stress the worst health epidemic of the 21st century (Source: Agency trend research) With everyday stressors—traffic, slow internet, longer working hours, etc.—affecting overworked professionals more than ever, the need to sit back, relax and have a break is really a must these days. KitKat saw an opportunity to help them by bringing to life the brand’s “break” philosophy through an immersive and share-worthy experience—after all, they also use their breaks for social media currency. So KitKat gave these stressed out office workers the break they deserve with the Breaker Benches. Whatever kind of break they wanted to take, there’s a Kitkat bench made especially for it.