Personalised chocolate wrappers
Nestlé’s current Kitkat campaign, which sees customers creating their own personalised chocolate wrappers, is being delivered and managed by Ultimate Digital.
The project combines the company’s print expertise and web-to-print Smartflow technology to not only print the packaging, but also provide complete supply chain control, traceability as well as individual product and detailed report analysis.
The promotion features across all Kitkat packs. From 1 February, consumers have been entering a competition online using codes printed on the chocolate wrapper. Winners can upload photos and personalised ‘Break Messages’ to produce their own unique design.
Nestlé confectionery’s business unit head, Kitkat and biscuits, Haseeb Rahman, said, ‘This promotion taps in to the current trend for personalisation, giving consumers the chance to win a personalised four-finger pack for themselves or to give to a friend or loved one. More than 56,000 unique personalised packs will be on offer in the prize promotion. The campaign has been backed with a £1 million media budget across digital and social media.’
The team at Ultimate has been involved from initial project conception, and the packaging was printed on its HP Indigo presses. The company’s web-to-print Smartflow technology, originally developed to streamline its design to print process and rip millions of individual artworks to its digital presses, also has the capability to fully interact with front-end consumer websites to deliver a complete online platform for digital web-to-print campaigns.
Chris Tonge, executive director, Ultimate Group, said, ‘It’s fantastic to be involved in such a high profile digital personalisation project for such an iconic Nestlé brand. Now the first personalised packs are starting to arrive with customers, I am sure the social media campaign on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube will really start to gain momentum.’
He continued, ‘There were some challenges to overcome with this project initially, as we had to supply a digitally printed film that would pack really fast down a normal production line, incorporating both a release lacquer and cold seal to replicate conventionally printed Kitkat film. However, after a couple of trials, this was achieved and the design is being digitally printed using four-colour process and white. We can use either of our HP Indigo presses to achieve the Nestlé standard.’
The personalised packs are printed in weekly batches of around 7-8000 packs at Ultimate’s site in Grimsby. Each has a unique barcode and identification code generated by Smartflow. The printed reels are delivered to Nestlé for packing and then returned to Ultimate for individual packing and despatch. Each chocolate bar is presented in a gift box.
Stephanie Scales, brand manager, Kitkat and biscuits, said, ‘It has been really great working with the Ultimate Digital team. It was clear from the start that they were experts in digital print and Smartflow, and their in-house packing and distribution capability has helped Nestlé deliver probably the most complicated campaign we have attempted. The uptake by customers to personalise their packs and activity on social media has been excellent, but now it should start to really happen.’
