Talk about a touchy-feely campaign!
To promote KitKat's launch in Colombia, J. Walter Thompson and Mindshare installed 20 billboards in the capital city of Bogota.
That may sound like a typical move, but these were no ordinary out-of-home ads. According to JWT, tiny motors in the signs "activated a system that transferred pleasant vibrations to the lower and upper back of the user. All you had to do was lean against the billboard, and it would give you a quick and comforting massage."
Hey, if you were taking the bus to a massage parlor, this would save time.
The idea was to give stressed-out commuters "a break," which, of course, ties in with KitKat's familiar taglines, which include "Give me a break" and "Have a break, have a KitKat." The billboards were geolocated on Google Maps, with Twitter and Facebook support, to drum up interest.
Sure, the whole idea sounds mildly pervy. But unlike another notable bus-stop branding ploy, at least people didn't have to get all handsy with random public-transit riders. And according to the case study, the results were pretty impressive: That big guy in the leather jacket around the 0:22 mark seems positively blissed-out—and observe how the hardhat goes for the soothing butt massage.
Best of all, no one got electrocuted (that we know of).
CREDITS
Advertiser: Kit Kat
Agencies: J. Walter Thompson, Mindshare
VP Creative & CCO: Rodolfo Borrell
Associate Creative Directors: Andres Norato and Claudia Murillo
Creative director: Jaime Perea
Senior Art director: Nicolas Acosta
VP Client Services: Antonio Abello
Account director: Lisseth Trejos
Advertiser supervisors: Juan David Rico, Carlos Madriñan, Andres Trochez, Maria Clemencia Espinosa