It’s exam season in Australia – the time when students throw themselves into unhealthy bouts of loooooong brain-cramming. KitKat has become students’ ally, launching a KitKat Study Guide video on YouTube and Spotify to help students be more productive while studying, and remind them to take more breaks in its latest earned PR and paid social campaign.
The guide, created by the agency village of Eleven, Bolt, VML, Mosaic Music + Sound, and RESN, is based on new research* from the KitKat team revealing that 66% of students admit to having their heads in the books for more than five hours without a break. the KitKat Study Guide, aka the perfect study buddy, is based on the Pomodoro study technique promoting regular breaks for improved productivity. It guides students through 25 minutes of power study, then ends with a five-minute break encouraging students to step back from the books and return feeling refreshed.
The ‘study with me’ inspired content oozes with oddly satisfying, ASMR-inducing sounds and visuals – guiding students into deep focus mode and offering reminders to take a break.
The campaign, which has gone live across YouTube and Spotify, with social cutdowns for TikTok and Instagram, has been supported with earned PR in mainstream media and ‘StudyTok’ influencer content across social. To highlight the quirky, unconventional content approach and students further in the art of ‘study with me’ content, the team also rolled out a behind the scenes video across its socials.
To create the content, the team worked with time management expert Kate Christie, who recommended the Pomodoro study technique as the basis of the timings, noting that breaks are key to improving concentration, enabling retention, and overall well-being during the stressful exam period.
The content’s experimental animations were created from scratch by New Zealand team, Resn, taking cues from the iconic KitKat finger, with six loops that built up throughout the 30 minute video and ended on a break.
The team at Mosaic Music + Sound created a soundscape with binaural beats to enhance focus, which are scientifically proven to increase concentration and alertness, problem-solving, and improved memory. The rolling loops begin with calming turns, building up to a power effort for students to concentrate, and then release with a five-minute break.
Nestlé head of marketing confectionery, Melanie Chen, stated, “At KitKat, we are all about encouraging better breaks. We know students are engaging with ‘study with me content’ as a way to overcome loneliness and the isolation of exam periods, so we wanted to create something as useful as it was unique. The best part about the KitKat Study Guide is that it does the heavy lifting for you – it’s fun and unconventional, treating students to soothing, satisfying sounds and chocolatey visuals while championing regular study breaks.”
Credits
Client: Nestle
Marketing Manager: Shannon Wright
Senior Corporate Affairs Manager: Emma Wilson
Senior Brand Manager: Sarah Lewis
Earned Creative: Eleven
Executive Creative Director: Russ Tucker
Art Director: Louis Royle
Creative Copywriters: Angus Loxton & Sophie Verheul
Client Partner: Maggie Stergiopoulos
Business Directors: Niamh Hamill & Christina Nguyen
Business Managers: Ella Marelich & Rachael Cleary
PR Consultant: Josh Camilleri
Production: Bolt
BTS DOP & Editor: Felix Ferguson
Editor: Jason Capizzi
Sound Engineer: Beau Silvester
Producer: Aja Sandoval
Brand Creative: VML
Audio: Mosaic Music + Sound
Bill Doig: Executive Producer & Producer
Micheal Thomas: Engineer
Animation: RESN
Creative Director: Wade Cowin
Senior Producer: Naomi Stevens
Design & 3D Animation: Ryan Ferguson
*Research conducted by Strategies with 1,000 Australian student respondents on behalf of KitKat in September 2024.
