KitKat Have A...

VML plays on the 85 year heritage of the brand line “Have a break, Have a KitKat”

"No matter what you do, breaks are important." This sums up the intended message of the campaign that KitKat is perfect for taking a proper break, as you have to use both hands to snap off one of the fingers to enjoy it, so you can’t multi-task.

KitKat has famously encouraged people to have a break for decades, and this campaign takes it one step further, encouraging people to have a break without explicitly saying it. All it takes is five letters to communicate one legendary message.

Stephanie Scales

Senior Brand Manager, KitKat & Biscuits

Our team was presented with a clear brief: make a classic KitKat OOH ad and gain talkability and buzz using the brand proposition of "breaks."

KitKat’s iconic tagline “Have a Break” was first introduced in 1957 and is a widely recognized slogan – so well known that you don't even have to finish the line or add the brand name for people to recognize it. This strategy also worked for the brand ten years ago with this award-winning ad.

We wanted to go one step further, pushing the boundaries of how many letters are needed on a poster to understand a brand message.

Embracing the heritage of the brand, we created a digital OOH poster live at the O2 Arena with only the five letters of "Have a" in white text on a distinctive red background, with the space bar blinking where you would expect to see the word "Break."

Over half of consumers not only were able to identify the brand, but understood the brand message.