Visiting one of the several annual expositions, once in Germany, I stepped on a Japanese company stand. Nothing special, a small standard stand where new companies are hosted for exploring the market, etc.
Once I arrived at the booth, one of the three men who composed the team offered me a small pack of Kit Kat (one of my favourite snacks when I was young).
Well, going back to home and revising all the different documentation I collected during my visit, I was wondering why that Company chose such a strange gadget to offer to the visitors. Normally, you receive a catalogue and some gadgets like USB keys, pens, etc.
Well, this kind act, very usual when you meet Asian companies, did hide something curious and interesting for someone like me is involved in the business development on foreign markets.
The battle engaged to enter in a new market that doesn’t accept your vision and consequently, your product and the need to adapt your business strategy to a specific market quitting “turn-key” solutions, simple repetition of previous projects.
The history of Kit Kat in Japan shows how it is difficult to propose conventional solutions, even when you are a big company (Nestlé) and you are going to sell a well-known product.
This allows even to understand how difficult this could be for a middle- or small-sized company to do this, when you think (this is a common paradigm to many companies): “my product is so good that it doesn’t need to be explained or modified because it sells by itself”.
“Kitto Katto,” as the product is pronounced in Japan, had to work hard to enter in the heart of the Japanese and to be accepted in that market.
All changed when Nestlé understood the existing connection between the name of the products and a “roughly” soundly translation of the Japanese sentence “kitto katsu”, which can be translated in “you surely win”.
Once I arrived at the booth, one of the three men who composed the team offered me a small pack of Kit Kat (one of my favourite snacks when I was young).
Well, going back to home and revising all the different documentation I collected during my visit, I was wondering why that Company chose such a strange gadget to offer to the visitors. Normally, you receive a catalogue and some gadgets like USB keys, pens, etc.
Well, this kind act, very usual when you meet Asian companies, did hide something curious and interesting for someone like me is involved in the business development on foreign markets.
The battle engaged to enter in a new market that doesn’t accept your vision and consequently, your product and the need to adapt your business strategy to a specific market quitting “turn-key” solutions, simple repetition of previous projects.
The history of Kit Kat in Japan shows how it is difficult to propose conventional solutions, even when you are a big company (Nestlé) and you are going to sell a well-known product.
This allows even to understand how difficult this could be for a middle- or small-sized company to do this, when you think (this is a common paradigm to many companies): “my product is so good that it doesn’t need to be explained or modified because it sells by itself”.
“Kitto Katto,” as the product is pronounced in Japan, had to work hard to enter in the heart of the Japanese and to be accepted in that market.
All changed when Nestlé understood the existing connection between the name of the products and a “roughly” soundly translation of the Japanese sentence “kitto katsu”, which can be translated in “you surely win”.
This simple wishes message espoused with the product allows to this last to become one of the “need to gift” products during the final examination test of every level of school in Japan and granted to it a diffuse entry in the market.
This story is a very fascinating example of business and marketing strategy.
From a total defeat, passing through the market's comprehension and the core side of this, people and tradition, Nestlé was able to turn over the table finding the right strategy.
A strategy which can be resumed in the simplest rules of the business, so many times forgotten : be near to the market, listen to the people if you want to understand what they need and don’t forget even to understand their tradition, uses, and vibe.
Now, Kit Kat is sold in more than 300 flavours, and it has taken an incontestable place in the heart and tradition of the Japanese families.
Me, I tried to keep the gadget as a good reminder of that visit, but at the end I ate it 😂 🤣
This story is a very fascinating example of business and marketing strategy.
From a total defeat, passing through the market's comprehension and the core side of this, people and tradition, Nestlé was able to turn over the table finding the right strategy.
A strategy which can be resumed in the simplest rules of the business, so many times forgotten : be near to the market, listen to the people if you want to understand what they need and don’t forget even to understand their tradition, uses, and vibe.
Now, Kit Kat is sold in more than 300 flavours, and it has taken an incontestable place in the heart and tradition of the Japanese families.
Me, I tried to keep the gadget as a good reminder of that visit, but at the end I ate it 😂 🤣