Did you hear the one concerning the 12 tons of stolen KitKat bars? No actually, it’s a real story. And now, Nestlé is asking the general public for assist in monitoring down the chocolate bars with the help of a easy web site.
Throughout the week of March 23, Nestlé reported that 413,793 KitKat bars went lacking in Europe when a truck carrying the sweet was stolen. Nestlé adopted up with a put up on April 1 saying a web site the place individuals can examine to see if their sweet was among the many stolen stash the corporate believes may find yourself on the market in Europe.
The Stolen KitKat Tracker is single-purpose landing page with an exceedingly easy format. The red-washed web site reveals customers the place they will discover the batch quantity on KitKat packaging, and it asks them to enter the code in a small textual content field on the backside of the web page.
For Nestlé, the microsite serves two functions: It helps the corporate find the place the stolen sweet bars ended up, and it extends curiosity within the story, like a twisted tackle a model activation.
Stolen product is unhealthy information for any model, however Nestlé is doing the sweet bar model of turning lemons into lemonade. By utilizing the theft as an opportunity to interact customers, it places the give attention to its F1-branded sweet bars proper earlier than Easter, one of many greatest seasons for candy sales yearly, and it offers KitKat followers a name to motion.
In case your batch code isn’t a match for the stolen KitKats, you’re proven a message that claims, “This KitKat Wasn’t Stolen – Preserve Looking out And Assist Us Widen The Search By Sharing.” If it was stolen, the corporate asks customers to not try to “find, deal with or recuperate any stolen items and to not take any direct motion,” however as a substitute share related data with native regulation enforcement.
Nestlé tells Quick Firm that customers who enter an identical batch code will likely be prompted to add a photograph for verification and supply contact particulars so the case could be escalated to safety.
“While we recognize the criminals’ distinctive style, the very fact stays that cargo theft is an escalating difficulty for companies of all sizes,” a KitKat spokesperson mentioned in a press release. “With extra refined schemes being deployed regularly, we now have chosen to go public with our personal expertise within the hope that it raises consciousness of an more and more widespread felony pattern.”
Manufacturers have lengthy used microsites just like the Stolen KitKat Tracker for sweepstakes and contests, however Nestlé is utilizing it to assist clear up an operations downside with some uncomplicated UI and a marketing answer.
