Nestle: Koko Krunch Bar

The Koko Krunch bar was a new Nestlé product that launched first in Thailand, where the campaign became a viral hit. Nestlé wanted to achieve the same virality in the Malaysian market.

Since the goal was to raise awareness of the product rather than e-commerce conversion, a viral campaign was a recommended approach to gain high visibility in a short time.

All campaign resources were concentrated on an entirely digital, social media approach. The campaign relied exclusively on influencer engagement to drive public interest. There would be no TVCs, no print ads or billboards.

The question was, how do you ensure the viral success of a campaign?

With more than 40% of Malaysians spending one to four hours on social networks a day, reaching out to them on these sites was ideal. Social content tend towards instant gratification and social recommendation. By seeding the Koko Krunch bar with influencers, we hoped to create instant awareness, buy-in, and demand for the product.

The influencer campaign involved 31 influencers creating conversations around the #kokokrunchbar through postings, videos, and Insta stories featuring the bar. The idea was to put the new product on consumers’ radar quickly and widely, building product awareness and lending credibility. ROOTS engaged a mix of macro and micro-influencers ranging from celeb mums to sports and fitness influencers.

In line with the instantaneous nature of this viral campaign, the Koko Krunch bar was released in stores on the same day the campaign went live. Those who saw the influencer postings and who wanted to purchase the bar could quickly nip down to the nearest store.

The creative direction of postings aimed to hit a common soft spot through:

Feelings of nostalgia toward everyone’s favourite childhood breakfast cereal
The convenience of having breakfast in a pocket bar.

ROOTS worked with the influencers to create social postings that are in line with these marketing concepts.

The campaign created high engagement and product visibility in a short time. 31 influencers created 40 total postings, which garnered 290,148 total likes and 1,651 comments. Their combined reach was 12 million with 15% average engagement rate. The influencer approach expanded the product reach and created positive connections with influencer followings, giving the instant takeoff that the Koko Krunch bar needed.