Case analysis

Topic: Kit Kat Green Tea

Aims Of The Essay

This essay aims to analyze the Kit Kat promotion performance by discussing the reasons that Kit Kat Green Tea flavor failed in Malaysia market by using the Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) campaign. Secondly giving some suggestions to improve the Kit Kat campaign in the Malaysian market. Lastly giving suggestions to Nestle Kit Kat on launch a new taste in the Hong Kong market by using the Integrated Marketing Communication plan.

Background of Kit Kat

Kit Kat is a brand of chocolate wafer first launched in the United Kingdom, in 1935, Kit Kat is the first brand to use full sustainable cocoa to make their products. (Global, n.d.) in 1988 Kit Kat became a part of the Nestles confiscatory products, now Kit Kat has been presented to more than 11Asian countries. (Malaysia, n.d.)    

The Reason launch “Green Tea” Flavor in Malaysia being fail

Although Kit Kat has slowly become the number one chocolate brand in Malaysia, however, Kit Kat launching the green tea flavor is a failure in the Malaysia market. Firstly, customer buying chocolate belongs to routine response behavior (Routine response behavior – PMLiVE, n.d.)which means the customer needs very little time to decide before they buy the product. The target market of the Kit Kat “Green Tea” in Malaysia is trying to let people who love a light snack have a break and enjoy eating Kit Kat, however, the flavor green tea Kit Kat does not match with the Malaysia people’s food taste. Kit Kat should  try to use different research method to research before launching new product such as focus group and questionnaire as the research method  Kit Kat should think of the consumer-oriented research which means Kit Kat should think about the different approach that will affect the customers before launching “Green Tea” flavor in Malaysia, for example, the psychological approach which means how Malaysian people feel about green tea products, as Malaysian people like spicy food. They do not like taste with bitter taste. Kit Kat should think of flavor that suits Malaysian taste. Such as Laksa and Satay. The main problem of launching Kit Kat Green tea in Malaysia is between the psychographic segmentation and behavioral segmentation. (What is Market Segmentation? 5 Focus Areas for Max ROI | Qualtrics, n.d.) For the psychographic segmentation which means target consumer is divided into groups according to their values, lifestyle and their own interest in the product. In this case, Malaysia people buying chocolate with some flavor that they like. The green tea flavor of Kit Kat does not fit the taste of major Malaysia people, because green tea flavor is too light. For the behavioral segmentation which refers to the knowledge of products in this case Malaysian people do not have enough knowledge of green tea, they do not know the benefit of drinking green tea, for example, green tea can increases fat burning and help us to have a better physical   performance also green tea can help us reduce the chance of getting different type of illness. (Kris Gunnars, 2018)As a result, the new flavour failed in Malaysia market.

Compare with Japan launching Green Tea Kit Kat is a mistake in Malaysia.

The food culture in Japan is totally different to that in Malaysia. Japan and Malaysia are in different area of Asia. The eating habits in Japan also called as “longevity” food which means long life, which means most Japanese people eating very healthy food. Green Tea is the most famous drink in Japan. Japan green can be divided into eight types which include Yulu Tea Sencha Tea Banchan Roasted Green Tea and Brown Rice Tea. (蘇茶網, 2018)This means Japanese people love green tea. As a result, Kit Kat launch of green tea flavour should be successful in Japanese society. Green Tea fits the habits and lifestyle of Japanese people, they love green tea very much. On the other hand, green tea is not popular in Malaysia,  because Malaysian people like drinking a different kind of drink, for example, Melo and the 100 plus energy drink (100PLUS – Products, n.d.) which are two different kinds of drink that a very popular in Southeast Asia countries. Malaysia food is a kind of mixed culture.  the way that Malaysian people cook food using a lot of spices and ingredients to make Malaysian cuisine unique with the rich and strong flavor. Malaysian people like spicy and salty foods which is different from the Japanese culture. Japanese people are very concerned about their health and they live with a healthy lifestyle. therefore, food nutrition and balanced are very important to them. Japanese eat very healthy food, the main ingredients in a meal are rice natto Sashimi Soba noodles Green Tea and so on. Japanese people like healthy food, therefore Kit Kat Green Tea chocolate is very popular in Japanese society. Most of the people enjoy eating Green Tea Products. If Kit Kat launches a new flavor in Malaysia it must be a flavour with strong taste to fit the Malaysian culture. Otherwise, Green Tea Kit Kat will not be popular in the Malaysian market. Kit Kat should launch Satay (Ria, n.d.) or Laksa (LAKSA, n.d.) because this kind of flavor always appear in Malaysia cuisine, it is respective of the Malaysia food culture. In this case, Kit Kat shows us the importance of understanding the target market and customer segmentation. The target of Kit Kat will be to provide chocolate to young people and old people who love a light snack and give people a break and allow them to enjoy Kit Kat. The main problem for Kit Kat Green Tea is the geographic segmentation, (Qualtrics, n.d.) which means the company divide customers into different groups according to the company object of promoting new product. In this case, launching a new flavour belongs to the geographic segmentation which means customers divided by geographic concern. Which mean Kit Kat should think about which country is suitable for launching Kit Kat Green Tea. The Kit Kat Green Tea being successful in Japan because people like drinking Green Tea.  Malaysian people love coffee more than green tea. The most popular coffee brand in Malaysia is called “Ahata White Coffees” (Coffees, n.d.) Malaysia people also love “Melo”. Geographic segmentation shows us that Kit Kat “Green Tea” being successful in japan does not mean it will be also successful in Malaysian market because the lifestyle and taste are different between Japan and Malaysia.                                     

New Flavor of Kit Kat In Hong Kong With IMC Plan

If Kit Kat is going to launch a new flavor in Hong Kong, it must be very special and have characteristics in and the flavor must be acceptable by most of the Hong Kong citizen and popular as well. Kit Kat has created limited editions for different areas of the world, for example, the Kit Kat Wasabi flavor (Japan, n.d.) will only be sold in Japan Shizuoka area and the milk tea flavor in Thailand. (Nasir, 2018) The new flavor must be very representative in Hong Kong society. The suggested new flavor will be egg waffles (Ho, n.d.) and it must be the original flavor because this is one of the most famous and popular street foods in Hong Kong. Egg waffle is a street food shaped like eggs which just like a little egg, egg waffles is golden color and the egg waffles like a honeycomb. Egg waffles give us a rich flavor just like eating cake. when eating egg waffles (Ho, n.d.) people can feel the crispy on the outside and softness in the inside with rice egg flavor. (Ho, n.d.) Egg waffles only easy to find in Hong Kong and Macao, it is very hard to find egg waffles in other country or other area. There are four steps in the IMC planning process, the first step in the process is communication research. The communication research diver into three-part. Product-specific research, which means to identify the selling point of egg waffles, the selling point is it is very easy to find it in Hong Kong streets and almost all Hong Kong people love egg waffles no matter children or adult love it. Consumer-oriented research which means Hong Kong people buy Kit Kat as a snack to enjoy. Target-market research which means who will receive the product of Kit Kat egg waffles. The second step of the IMC plan process is the target market, the market segmentation is means divide customer into different group, however, in this case, the target market will be all the Hong Kong people. The third steps are product positioning. It means the perception in the customer mind of Kit Kat with other competitors, for example, Tim Tam (timtamusa, n.d.) and garden chocolate wafers. (Kong, n.d.) Kit Kat will launch a new flour egg waffles (Ho, n.d.) which make it unique compared with Tim Tam (timtamusa, n.d.) and garden chocolate wafers (Kong, n.d.). The last step of the IMC plan will be the communication objective, which means the way that can help IMC plan become effective. The communication objective includes two-part which are budget and component. For the budget how much money would Kit Kat afford to launch a new flavor, for example, eight million to launch a new Kit Kat flavor. After setting the budget Kit Kat need to decide which media will be the best components to promote the Kit Kat egg waffles. The best component will be television there have a lot of advantage to use television as a channel to promote product, television can reach a lot of audience, which means a lot of people will cognitive that Kit Kat launch a new flavor. Television also provides high-frequency potential, which mean to advertisement of Kit Kat will show up in television frequently. Television can provide the advertisement will a low cost per contact, however it can reach a lot audience. Kit Kat can also use Out of Home Advertisement (Côté, 2018) to promote egg waffles Kit, Kat (Ho, n.d.), because Out of Home advertisement is the only traditional medium to be estimated to keep growing in the market. Out of Home advertisement which selection the key area to promote new product and it is a low-cost impression per customer.

The Conclusion for the essay The main reason that Kit Kat launching “Green Tea” flavor having different consequences in Malaysia and Japan market and Malaysia market. It is because Japan and Malaysia have different culture, lifestyle and habits of taste. Japan people eating more healthy food with light taste compare with major of Malaysia people like strong flavor of food. Kit Kat should be launching Laksa (LAKSA, n.d.) or Satay (Ria, n.d.) flavor in the Malaysia market in order to match with Malesia people interest of taste. The new flavor suggested to be launch in Hong Kong is egg waffles original flavor (Ho, n.d.), it is one of the popular street foods in Hong Kong egg waffles related to Hong Kong society interested and habit of food taste. Egg waffles (Ho, n.d.) is very hard to find outside the Hong Kong area, it is a representative flavor.