United States – Formula 1 and popular chocolate brand Nestlé have announced a new multi-year partnership making KitKat the Official Chocolate Bar of Formula 1. The collaboration will officially launch during the 2025 season, marking the 90th anniversary of KitKat and the 75th anniversary of Formula 1, and will then expand across the world throughout 2026. 

Formula 1 enthusiasts can look forward to consumer activations, promotional prizes and immersive fan zones at select Grands Prix, with trackside branding, and cheerful, light-hearted content.

Bringing its iconic “Have a Break, Have a KitKat®” message to Formula 1, the partnership champions the importance of taking a moment to pause, and unites two diverse global fanbases in an innovative collaboration. Both brands are dedicated to elevating the fan experience by combining the excitement of world-class racing with the renowned sense of humour of KitKat and tradition of sharing breaks.

Emily Prazer, chief commercial officer at Formula 1, said, “We’re delighted to have such a globally recognised and fun brand as KitKat joining us as a partner. They’re universally loved, and we can’t wait to see the fantastic experiences they’ll be bringing to our fans at the track and the new audiences they’ll introduce to the sport.”

Meanwhile, Bernard Meunier, head of strategic business units and marketing and sales at Nestlé, commented, “Formula 1 is a global phenomenon with a rapidly growing, diverse fanbase, especially among younger audiences. With its global reach and packed schedule, F1 offers KitKat the perfect platform to remind everyone to make time for a break. We’re excited to bring our signature sense of fun to this thrilling sport and to create memorable experiences for fans around the world.”

This partnership follows recent moves from Formula 1 teaming up with companies including a 10-year global partnership with LVMH, and one with The LEGO Group set to take off in 2025.

Australia – Promoting breaks for more than 65 years, popular chocolate brand KitKat has taken the opportunity to follow their own advice and let AI make their latest campaign so they could ‘have a break’.

Some appropriately generic briefs like ‘Write a KitKat ad the way Gen Z speaks’, ‘Write a KitKat ad about gamers’ and ‘Write a KitKat ad about the latest trends’ were used for the campaign. The generated scripts were used to prompt an image generator, resulting in some ‘almost ok’ images and AI voice.

João Braga, CCO at Wunderman Thompson, commented on the campaign, “AI is revolutionising our industry and beyond, but the reality is not every brand has something relevant (or fun) to say on that space.”

He added, “KitKat has breaks, and AI gives us more of those. So we thought we’d have a crack at it ourselves and poke a bit of fun at AI – while we can.”

Meanwhile, Nestlé’s Head of Marketing Confectionary, Melanie Chen, said, “We’re all for creating more opportunities to ‘have a break’, so when Wunderman Thompson asked us if we could let AI generate our next round of advertising content, we couldn’t pass it up.”

Chen, however, added that AI won’t replace jobs in the advertising industry any time soon without some real ‘watch-outs’.

The campaign is now live with 30’, 15’ and 6’ social and digital video, and 30’ audio and podcasts.

This follows KitKat’s interactive campaign on Instagram last year called the ‘Blink Break’, where consumers were encouraged to have a break and go head-to-head in an AI-powered staring contest.

London, United Kingdom – As many people are turning to social media to break up their day, the global chocolate brand KitKat has launched a new interactive campaign on Instagram called the ‘Blink Break’, a fun distraction from the mundane every day that gives people the chance to have a break from what they are doing and go head-to-head in an AI-powered staring contest.

Built by integrated marketing agency Wunderman Thompson and using MediaPipe’s cutting-edge Face Mesh technology, the online game is enabled with a single camera input that uses machine learning to recognise a face and detect blinking, returning results literally within the blink of an eye. Participants face off against progressively more absurd animals the further through the game they get, from a lemur to a snowy owl. With a pause in the action between each level, those who play are also encouraged to compete against each other and share their results using #blinkchallenge.

Wael Jabi, KitKat’s global strategic marketing and communications lead, said, “KitKat has famously encouraged people to have a break since 1957, and this campaign shows a whole generation of digital natives the benefits of taking a break in one of the most relevant contexts for them.”

Meanwhile, Paul Shearer, Wunderman Thompson’s global chief creative officer, noted, “Developing cutting-edge AI technology that responds within the blink of an eye is an unexpected move for KitKat, but gives the brand a chance to show up and show off their legendary positioning in a fresh and relevant way to a new audience.”

This new interactive game is now available on KitKat’s global Instagram channel, with posts coinciding with the infamous mid-afternoon slump when people are most in need of a light-hearted distraction.

Australia – With the original formation of a KITKAT chocolate, everyone knows that the best way to eat it is to break the partitions and enjoy it finger by finger. After all, this is where the famous slogan of the brand comes from, “Have a break, Have a KitKat.” But through the years, people have been less traditional and are taking a bite out of their KITKATs with the way they like and how they think it is most enjoyable.

In a fun and light campaign by Nestlé Australia on TikTok, the brand is finally acknowledging the passionate debate swirling online about the correct way to eat a KITKAT.

Done with creative agency Wunderman Thompson, the ‘Have a bite’ social campaign sees KITKAT jump in to respond to the many people proudly flaunting their innovative and somewhat intriguing approach to the correct KITKAT consumption method.

The natural tendency is to tear the pack, break off a finger, and snap in half. But some people have opted to take a giant bite out of all four fingers, or even nibbling off the chocolate layers.

The campaign, which will be running until 30 September, kicked off with prominent TikTok creators throwing their voices into the debate by showing how they have a bite. Roped in the commotion to shed more light is screen legend Michael Caton who bit into a KITKAT himself and asking Aussies, “Is this wrong?” 

Commenting on the campaign, João Braga, chief creative officer of Wunderman Thompson, said, “As Australia’s favorite chocolate bar, we know that people have some serious love for the iconic treat, but we wanted to discover new ways to engage with the fanbase online. What better way to do this than by jumping into the heartfelt and passionate debate over the true, right, and ‘correct’ way to eat a KITKAT.”

Joyce Tan, Nestlé’s head of marketing, added, “We knew it was time to finally weigh in on the conversation regarding how to properly eat a KITKAT and acknowledge the weird and wonderful ways Aussies eat theirs.”

“Teaming up with Wunderman Thompson, we were able [to] leverage the power of TikTok creators and iconic Australian actor Michael Caton to generate real-time conversation about the many ways that a KITKAT is enjoyed,” Tan said.

In line with the social campaign, KITKAT releases limited-edition packs showing variations of the iconic bitten KITKAT.

Ultimately, Nestlé said in a press release, KITKAT is OK with how you choose to eat your KITKAT “as long as you’re taking a break to enjoy it.”

To show that ‘other’ ways of having a bite are at least being entertained by the brand, KITKAT is testing the waters with some limited-edition packs, where the iconic snapping fingers printed on the pack are replaced with some of the different ways Aussies bite their KITKATs.

According to Wunderman Thompson, the campaign has gained 4.3 million views organically across TikTok and Instagram in the first 48 hours of launch, and the attention of some very passionate KITKAT fans with more than 70,000 votes in a Twitter debate.

Malaysia – Japan is known for innovating the global brand Nestlé’s KitKat into a multitude of exciting flavors that transcend the classic and basic variants of chocolate, white, and dark chocolate. One of its flavors – Cheesecake – which also happens to be bakeable is available in Malaysia.

Released in 2015, Japan has showcased yet another form of ingenuity on this one, where the KitKat variant can be eaten as it is or popped into an oven for a better – carmelized – version of the wafer.

Image from @junkfoodonthego on Instagram

According to KL Foodie, instructions to bake the KitKat can be found at the back of the packaging. One Instagram user Huizhen Li, with the handle @huizhen0106, showed on the social media network the transformation.

She shared the wafer selection is “crispy and light” where the white chocolate still dominates the cheese flavor.

KL Foodie said to place the KitKat on a baking sheet and put in a toaster or oven for about two minutes, then immediately, place in a freezer to let chill for a bit.

For the past years, one of the most popular Japan-made KitKat flavors is the ‘matcha’ or green tea. The maker responsible is the ‘KitKat Chocolatory’, which is actually the brand’s store for premium flavors which has presence in different countries worldwide.

KitKat Chocolatory in Japan
KitKat Matcha flavor

The store in Japan has produced the most unexpected selections within KitKats such as Soy sauce, Cherry blossom, and Ginger ale. Similarly with the cheesecake flavor, the country has released varieties Blueberry cheesecake and Strawberry cheesecake, and a bakeable Custard.

The cheesecake flavor is said to be limited edition. It comes in a packet of 12 mini KitKats and can be ordered via Shopee.

Main feature image from Huizhen Li (@huizhen0106) on Instagram.