Kit Kat

Kit Kat, slender crispy wafer fingers covered with creamy milk chocolate. In January 2010,Kit Kat, Nestls leading confectionery brand and the UKs favorite chocolate biscuit bar, was certified by Fairtrade in the UK and Ireland.

The Kit Kat range

Kit Kat Pop Choc: Kit Kat Pop Choc are delicious bitesize pieces of famous Kit Kat wafer coated in milk chocolate. Containing no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives, the new sharing bag also features LOVE TO SHARE branding in keeping with the refreshed Nestl chocolate sharing bag range. Kit Kat 2 Finger: Two Finger Kit Kat is the UK's number one biscuit. The 2 Finger Kit Kat was launched in the 1930s alongside the 4 Finger variant, and has remained a bestselling biscuit brand ever since. In the beginning, the 2 Finger Kit Kat was only produced as a milk variant, but is now available in Milk, Mint, Orange, Dark and Cookies and Cream. Annually we sell enough 2 Finger Kit Kat to go round the world more than one and a half times! Have a break with two crispy wafer fingers covered with milk chocolate, Kit Kat contains 107 Calories and no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives - a great lunchbox treat! Within the KIT KAT range you can also find the following: Kit Kat 2 finger Milk, Orange, Mint, Dark and Cookies and Cream Kit Kat 4 Finger Milk and 70% Dark Kit Kat Chunky Milk and Peanut Butter Kit Kat Chunky Duo - Milk

Nestl India creates fresh milestones innovates with Kitkat to tap new segments.
Nestl India Ltd has announced that in recent years the Company has initiated various activities to make its chocolate business stronger and more robust. Greater emphasis on consumer insights and Innovation & Renovation enabled it to achieve milestones that have made this portfolio even more relevant to the emerging lifestyles. In 2007 the Company has led growth in the chocolate industry which grew at around 23%. The Company has now added fresh milestones. It has launched two new products - KIT KAT CHUNKY and KITKAT MINI under the Company's No.1 global confectionery brand. KITKAT CHUNKY which is a favourite the world over, is now being launched in India in two exotic variants - KITKAT CHUNKY Hazelnut, and KITKAT CHUNKY Choko. These are based on the insight that a segment of consumers want an indulgent KITKAT to enjoy during their breaks and therefore these products contain specially imported Turkish Hazelnut and African Coco Beans to meet this need. At the same time, in order to help consumers to balance their pleasure with wellness, it is the first portionable CHUNKY in the world. Each KITKAT CHUNKY is breakable into three portions of 64 calories each to enable portion control. KITKAT MINI is an innovation that will introduce this successful brand to a much larger population. It is being test marketed at Rs 2/- in the East and West India and will leverage the Company's fast expanding distribution reach, which is now the largest in the chocolate category. Commenting on these launches, Stewart Dryburgh, General Manager (Chocolate and Confectionery) said, "Lifestyles are changing, with an increasing number of consumers seeking to balance indulgence with lighter eating. We have effectively used our global expertise and insights to continuously innovate and create new segments that are relevent to our consumers. We are leaders in lighter eating with KITKAT and MUNCH and leaders in white confectionery with MILKYBAR. Now the unique, exotic, portionable KITKAT CHUNKY and KITKAT MINI provide our consumers with many more reasons to have a break and have a KITKAT".

Use of the name "Kit Kat" or "Kit Cat" for a type of food goes back to the 18th Century, when mutton pies known as a Kit-Kat were served at meetings of the political Kit-Cat Club. The origins of what is now known as the "Kit Kat" brand go back to 1935, when Rowntree's, a confectionery company based in York in the United Kingdom, trademarked the terms "Kit Cat" and "Kit Kat". Although the terms were not immediately utilised, the first conception of the Kit Kat appeared in the 1920s, when Rowntree launched a brand of boxed chocolates entitled "Kit Cat". This continued into the 1930s, when Rowntree's shifted focus and production onto its "Black Magic" and "Dairy Box" brands. With the promotion of alternative products the "Kit Cat" brand decreased and was eventually [2] discontinued. The original four-finger bar was developed after a worker at Rowntree's York Factory put [3] a suggestion in a recommendation box for a snack that "a man could take to work in his pack". The bar launched on 29 August 1935, under the title of "Rowntree's Chocolate Crisp" (priced at 2d), and was sold [4] in London and throughout Southern England. The product's official title of "Rowntree's Chocolate Crisp" was renamed "Kit Kat Chocolate Crisp" in 1937, the same year that 'Kit Kat' began to incorporate "Break" into its recognisable advertising [2] strategy. The colour scheme and first flavour variation to the brand came in 1942, owing to World War II, when food shortages prompted an alteration in the recipe. The flavour of "Kit Kat" was changed to "dark"; [5] the packaging abandoned its "Chocolate Crisp" title, and was adorned in blue. After the war the title was altered to "Kit Kat" and resumed its original milk recipe and red packaging.

4-finger Kit Kat

Following on from its success in the United Kingdom, in the 1940s "Kit Kat" was exported to Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. During the same decade Donald Gilles, the executive at JWT Orland, created the iconic advertising line "Have a Break, Have a Kit Kat". The brand further expanded in the 1970s when Rowntree created a new distribution factory in Germany to meet European demand, and established agreements to distribute the brand in the USA and Japan, through the Hershey and Fujiya [2] companies respectively. In June 1988 Nestl acquired Kit Kat through the purchase of Rowntree's. This [6] gave Nestl global control over the brand, except in North America, and production and distribution increased with new facilities in Japan and additional manufacturing operations set up in Malaysia, India [2] and China. Variants in the traditional chocolate bar first appeared in 1996 when "Kit Kat Orange", the first flavour variant, was introduced in the United Kingdom. Its success was followed by several varieties including mint and caramel, and in 1999 "Kit Kat Chunky" was launched and received favourably by international

consumers. Variations on the traditional "Kit Kat" have continued to develop throughout the 2000s. In 2000 Nestl acquired Fujiyas share of the brand in Japan, and also expanded its marketplace in Japan, [2] Russia, Turkey and Venezuela, in addition to markets in Eastern and Central Europe. Throughout the decade 'Kit Kat' has introduced dozens of flavours and line extensions within specific consumer markets, and celebrated its 75th anniversary on 10 October 2009. The traditional bar has four fingers which each measure approximately 1 centimetre (0.39 in) by 9 centimetres (3.5 in). A two-finger bar was launched in the 1930s, and has remained the company's best[4] selling biscuit brand ever since. The 1999 "Kit Kat Chunky" (known as "Big Kat" in the US) has one large finger approximately 2.5 centimetres (0.98 in) wide. Kit Kat bars contain varying numbers of fingers depending on the market, ranging from the half-finger sized Kit Kat Petit in Japan, to the three-fingered variants in Arabia, to the twelve-finger family-size bars in Australia and France. Kit Kat bars are sold individually and in bags, boxes and multi-packs. In Ireland, the UK and America Nestl also produces a Kit Kat Ice Cream, and in Australia and Malaysia, "Kit Kat Drumsticks". In 2010 a new 5 million manufacturing line was opened by Nestl in York, UK. This will produce more [7] than a billion Kit Kat bars each year. [edit]Global

confection

Kit Kat bars are produced in 21 countries by Nestl: UK, Egypt, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Algeria, South Africa, Germany, Russia, Japan, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, India,Turkey, Venezuela, Spain, United Arab Emirates, Mexico, Bulgaria and Ukraine. Kit Kat bars in the United States are produced under licence by The Hershey Company, a Nestl competitor, due to a prior licensing agreement with Rowntree. The year 2003 was a turning point for the Kit Kat bar as well as the confectionery industry in general. The popularity of low carb diets and the push to healthier eating stifled sales growth in many parts of the world. In addition, fierce competition from Cadbury's newly formed Dairy Milk superbrand also contributed to sales of the Kit Kat decreasing considerably in its home market of the UK, and threatened to depose it [8][9] from its #1 position. The solution adopted by Nestl and others was to increase dramatically the number of new and unique variations of their confections and market them as limited or special editions, whereby they would usually only be available for a few months at a time so as not to impact the sales of [10] [11] their permanent edition counterparts. The strategy initially reversed the decline of the Kit Kat and has [12][13] been adopted worldwide by Nestl, Hershey, Mars and others with similar success. This has resulted in many new flavours and varieties of the Kit Kat and other confections appearing globally since then. While some flavours have been hits, many have flopped, alienating some consumers [citation needed] in the process, causing Nestl to scale back on new releases. In late 2005, Chris White, the managing director of Nestl Rowntree abruptly left his job amid controversy that his marketing strategies may in fact have had a negative impact on Kit Kat and confection sales in [14] the long term. Also, in September 2006 Nestl announced they were eliminating 25% of their workforce in York and moving production of Smarties to Germany. One of the reasons given for the cuts and moves [15] was so the York factory could be modernised for Kit Kat production to continue.

As dark chocolate has seen increased demand and favour worldwide because of its purported health benefits, September 2006 saw the launch of the four-finger Kit Kat Fine Dark in the UK as a permanent [citation needed] edition, as well as new packaging for the entire brand. Hershey had sold the four-finger Kit Kat [16] Dark in the US several years previously as a limited edition, and has begun doing so again. Nestle now manufactures two finger Kit Kats with natural flavourings, and for the first time, Kit Kats in this [citation needed] format are suitable for vegetarians. It is not known at this date whether or not other varieties will follow suit. [edit]Brand

name and appearance

The US packaging

Originally named Rowntree's chocolate crisp, the traditional red wrapper of the original bar briefly became blue between 19451947. As a result of milk shortages after the end of World War II, the milk chocolate coating was suspended and a dark chocolate was used instead during that period. The Hershey Company has a licence to produce Kit Kat bars in the United States which dates from 1969, when Hershey executed a licensing agreement for Kit Kat and the Rolo with Rowntree in the United States (and for Oh Henry! in Canada). Nestl, which has a substantial presence in the US, had to honour the licensing agreement which allows Hershey to retain the Kit Kat / Rolo licence so long as Hershey is [17][18] not sold. This was a factor in Hershey's failed attempt to attract a serious buyer in 2002. Hershey's Kit Kat packaging and advertising in the USA has differed from the branding used in every other country where it is sold, although in 2002 Hershey Kit Kats finally started to adopt the slanted ellipse logo used worldwide by Nestl (though the ellipse is red and the text is white, rather than the other way around). It is possible to purchase the (imported) Nestle version of the Kit Kat Chunky in various specialty shops in the US. The US native "Kit Kat Chunky" is known as "Big Kat". In Norway, a similar product is manufactured by Kraft Foods and sold as Kvikk Lunsj; Kvikk Lunsj XXL is similar to a Kit Kat Chunky. [edit]Marketing

and promotion

After launching in the 1930s, Rowntree's Chocolate Crisp was originally advertised as "the biggest little meal" and "the best companion to a cup of tea". During the Second World War, Kit Kat was depicted as a valuable wartime foodstuff, with the slogan "what active people need". 'Kitty the Kat' arrived in the late 1940s to emphasise the "rich full cream milk" qualities of the bar and, thanks to contemporary improvements in production methods, also highlighted the new and improved 'snap' by responding to a

biscuit being broken off screen. The first Kit Kat poster appeared in 1951, and the first colour TV advertisement appeared in 1969. Since 1957, the slogan for the Kit Kat in the UK and elsewhere has been "Have a break... have a Kit Kat". However, in 1995, Nestl sought to trademark the "Have a break" portion. After a ten year legal battle, which was contested by rival Mars, the European Court of Justice ruled on 7 July 2005 to send the case [19] back to the British Courts. The United States also used the short lived slogan, "Tastes So Good, You'll Roar", in the early 1980s. The TV commercial most known from this slogan involves a young man biting into one of the Kit Kat fingers in a grocery store, and roaring like a lion so loudly the whole store shakes violently, knocking items from the shelves. Another short-lived U.S. slogan was "That's What You Want", whose television adverts showed people pulling unlikely foodstuffs from their pockets or purses, before rejecting them in favour of a Kit Kat. The "classic" American version of the "Gimme a Break" Kit Kat jingle (in use in the US since 1986) was written by Ken Shuldman (lyrics) and Michael A. Levine (music) for the DDB Advertising Agency. Versions of the original have been covered by Carrie Underwood, Shawn Colvin, and many studio singers, as well as people who have appeared on-camera in the commercials. The jingle was cited in a study by University of Cincinnati researcher James A. Kellaris as one of the top ten "earworms" - bits of melody that become stuck in your head. Another version of the advertising jingle 'Gimme a break' created for Kit Kat "Factory" commercial in the USA was an original recording by Andrew W.K. W.K. was hired to write a new musical version for their "Gimme a break" slogan. Variations on the Andrew W.K. advertisement included executive dance routines in corporate offices, and a network news room. However, the "classic" song has also been used again since the newer version first aired in 2004. A 1989 United Kingdom advertisement for Kit Kat, in which a giant panda in a zoo "takes a break", came in 30th in Channel 4's "100 Greatest Adverts" poll in 2000. In 2004, Nestl UK changed the slogan to [20] "Make the most of your break". The new slogan was not embraced outside of the UK and Nestl Rowntree later returned to the original slogan. In late 2004 through to the end of 2006, Nestl Rowntree sponsored the English football club York City [21] F.C.. As a result the club's home-ground, Bootham Crescent, was renamed to KitKat Crescent. In an 2012 advertising campaign in the UK and Ireland, several new flavours of Chunky KitKat were marketed, with consumers being asked to vote for their favourite. Selecting from White Chocolate, Double Chocolate, Peanut Butter and Orange, Peanut Butter was the winner by having 47% of votes [edit]Fairtrade In December 2009, it was announced that the four finger variety of Kit Kat would use Fairtrade chocolate [22] (at least in Britain and Ireland) from January 2010. It has also been announced that the fair trade Kit [23] Kat promotion will be extended to the finger edition as of January 2010. [edit]Golden

ticket draw

During the first three weeks of Big Brother Series 7, Channel 4 conducted a promotion in conjunction with Nestle to distribute 100 "golden tickets" randomly throughout Kit Kats, in a style reminiscent of the story Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Members of the public finding these tickets were permitted to use them to give themselves a chance to become a Big Brother housemate and bypass the standard auditions process.

Golden ticket holders were invited to a television show where one of them, Susie Verrico, was chosen to enter the House by Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace, picking a ball out of a machine at random. This contest caused some controversy, with the Advertising Standards Authority saying that the terms and conditions of the draw should have been made clearer in related advertisements, and that an independent adjudicator should have been present before and during the draw.