Please respond to the fellow classmate’s post with a minium 200 word response: The Kit Kat Postal campaign was the perfect embodiment of Nestle’s strategy to stick to what they know and to adapt to local tastes.
This campaign stayed true to the essence of the Kit Kat brand but gained a competitive edge by leaning into the local culture, specifically that kit kat, in Japanese, meant surely win (YouTube, 2010). Understanding the local taste for handwritten notes and understanding the pressures on Japanese students, helped Nestle craft a marketing strategy that excelled in the market.
This marketing strategy has largely been successful because of Nestle’s decentralized management strategy. Understanding the needs of the Japanese consumer took inside knowledge about the market and the people. That marketing manager was Ryoji Maki, who grew up in Hiroshima (Kaiman, 2017). Relinquishing control from the upper management and giving Maki and the Japanese marketing team, the authority to innovate the Kit Kat brand has aided in its success in Japan.
One other company that really celebrates the differences of its global consumers is Dunkin’ Donuts. In China, Dunkin’ Donuts identified very quickly that breakfast sweets were not a big selling point and that the Chinese consumer much preferred something savory including pork and seaweed donuts and milk tea (Danubrata, 2012). This product diversification really came after entering into a franchise licensing agreement with Asian company Golden Cup Pte, Ltd (Fitzgerald, 2015). Entering into an agreement gave Dunkin’ Donuts the local leverage it needed for success, and we learned from our textbook that this helped mitigate some of the financial risks for the company (Cateora et al., 2016). By utilizing local flavors, Dunkin’ Donuts has been profitable and shows each market that they understand and celebrate those unique tastes.
This also gives each consumer a new way to experience the Dunkin’ Donuts brand.
Another marketing alignment for the brand in China came with utilizing Lebron James as its spokesperson. Lebron is an American basketball player that has huge appeal in China (Danubrata, 2012). This helped to establish the American brand with another American superstar that was widely loved by the Chinese people. It wasn’t as clever as the Kit Kat campaign, but the consistent Dunkin’ Donuts marketing strategies have helped them edge out wins in all areas of the globe by providing menu items that show that they have done their research and understand each local market.
References
Cateora, P. R., Gilly, M. C., & Graham, J. L., Money, R. B. (2016). International Marketing. McGraw-Hill Education.
Danubrata, E. (2012, March 5). Here’s how Dunkin’ donuts plans to dominate in China. Business Insider. Retrieved February 20, 2022, from https://www.businessinsider.com/dunkin-donuts-battle-plan-for-china-focuses-on-pork-donuts-and-lebron-james-2012-3
Fitzgerald, J. (2015, January 8). Dunkin’ Donuts signs huge deal in China. Bizjournals.com. Retrieved February 20, 2022, from https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/blog/mass_roundup/2015/01/dunkin-donuts-signs-huge-deal-in-china.html
Kaiman, J. (2017, December 12). How the humble kitkat conquered Japan with ever-changing flavors. anyone for Sushi Kitkat? Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 20, 2022, from https://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-japan-kitkat-20171211-story.html
YouTube. (2010). Nestle KitKat – Kittu Kitsu Case Study Japan. YouTube. Retrieved February 20, 2022, from https://moodle.lsus.edu/mod/hsuforum/view.php?id=789324.
