January 10, 2006

Pink!

It's been a long time but finally: a Japan post!

KitKat has a tendency to invent weird KitKat's. I wrote about one of them here (Uji Maccha) And through Tokyo Metrobloggers I discovered their most recent invention: sakura KitKat!

Obviously this particular one is pink. Yes, pink chocolate...
I suppose the taste would be similar to sakura mochi, without the mochi? Hmm, quite curious!

For the campaign KitKat is using the same slogan as last spring: Kitto Sakura Saku yo, 「きっとサクラサクよ」, which I've always interpreted as "Don't worry, the blossoms will definitely bloom." [a.k.a.: no matter what happens, no matter how hard your exams might seem, you'll pull through, everything will be alright! and imagine lots of happy Japanese smiling and speaking in encouraging voices at the same time]

Usually I'm not very impressed with Japanese advertising and graphic design in posters/ads/etc (with some notable exceptions of course, such as the recent Sony Bravia commercials). The KitKat campaign was done really well I thought. It showed that they had actually thought out an audience and a strategy to promote their products which is usually lacking in Japanese advertising.

The campaign was huge in February and March last year during the period of university entrance exams. Sakura is of course THE symbol of a new beginning: spring is starting, anything can happen in the new season. And for many teenagers finishing senior high school it is a huge new start: university. So, therefore it was mostly aimed at 18-year-olds, and students graduating from university to start their life as a shakaijin. And I guess they are also an audience who'll buy lots of chocolate!

But still... pink chocolate... hmm.
(I also heard about the red wine KitKat that they put in the shops a while back. That sounds just vile!)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmmm...pinkbonny is wondering what the pink kitkat tastes like...@@

So sweeeet...the colour of the Sakula...^^

International brands often have international campaigns for their product promotion. In China you can find Old Beijing Chicken roll, and Mexican Chicken roll in KFC. They are specially designed for the people who is not fond of eating hamburgs. And the fashion design for Only and Veremoda is different from here, more suitable to asian people...

Hehe... businessmen are always smart.

machiruda said...

Yeah, you're right that campaigns are tailored to whatever country they are shown in.
I think it's quite surprising though that KitKat brings out all these different flavours (and very Japanesy flavours too: sakura, green tea etc) in Japan but not anywhere else (as far as I know). I think I've seen white choccie KitKat's here but that's it. Definitely nothing seasonal...

Cooks said...

i wish they did sell those over here, we are way too conventional with chocolate!!!