OVERVIEW
Contests are nothing new, but their increased prevalence is, thanks in part to social and digital media (Kit Kat held three contests alone in 2015). The brand was looking for a way to evolve their promotional activity, creating a different experience for their audience. Considering their tagline and core essence is all about ‘breaks,’ continually asking people to enter contests by doing stuff seemed like a disconnect. So the brand asked Canadians to take a break from contests. To do that, the #Nontest was created — a non-contest where a person could win a prize by simply not entering.
The campaign featured all of the familiar elements of a traditional contest, except all of the communication urged people not to enter. Social media was used to find people not entering and then reward them with prizes. Naturally, if people used the campaign hashtag #nontest, they were more likely to be found not entering.
The Kit Kat consumer is extremely savvy, witty, and often troll-y. This approach spoke to the savvy, engaged the witty, and somehow negated the trolls. In fact, you couldn’t troll it because you literally couldn’t enter the contest, so even the trolliest of trolls ended up entering-by-not-entering.
Several online videos were created that didn’t not explain everything. Point-Of-Sale messaging told people not to enter to win. And supporting digital media did the same. This was all anchored by a contest site that looked like a traditional contest site except every time you attempted to fill in the form, you were denied entry and encouraged to share branded content instead. Celebrities were even publicly notified that they’d won by not enterings — however, Drake has yet to claim his Kit Kat towel.
RESULTS
> A 260% increase in entries over Kit Kat’s 2015 contest (where people were explicitly asked to do something).
> Engagement increased 995% over last year’s contest.
> Kit Kat sales increased by 20% during the campaign period.
> Helped KIT KAT retain the #1 chocolate bar rank.
Marketing Awards (Bronze)
CAMPAIGN ELEMENTS
Steve Miller // executive creative director 