Give Us a Break Kit Kat

I just sat down for a coffee and a Kit Kat and noticed the promotion “Win your own Perfect Break”. So I thought I’d enter it.

The mechanic was simple: find the code inside the wrapper and enter it on a website to see if you’ve won. Executing the mechanic is not quite as simple:

• You can barely read the code inside the wrapper.
• You have to register with your email address before you can see if you have a winning code. This requires a compulsory age field as well.
• During a single session a captcha code entry was required twice.
• The good news: I was a winner. My prize: another four bar Kit Kat.
• The bad news:
  • I then had to download and install special software on my PC to get a voucher.
  • There were multiple requests to accept secure and insecure content via the browser.
  • ActivX had to be installed.
  • Then I had to print the voucher out.
• And then I discovered the voucher is only valid from today, 6 February, to 13 February 2009. Outrageous!

If the Kit Kat team would like to drop me a line I will explain to them how they could make their promotions completely inaccessible rather than just a pain in the arse.

Kevin Harrington

I’m a UK-based B2B marketing consultant, specialising in strategic advice for SME business owners. I bring extensive hands-on expertise to every client engagement. Senior leadership roles across technology, media, payments, and publishing have shaped my practical approach. Highlights include serving as Chief Marketing Officer at The Panoply plc (now TPXimpact), Chief Commercial Officer at Tungsten Network, and Global Marketing Director at BBC Worldwide. Over the years, I’ve guided numerous SMEs through transformation and value creation. Helping businesses evolve and thrive is a genuine passion. Practical marketing insights and succession planning strategies are at the heart of what I do, as I believe growing a business’s asset value should be a rewarding and positive journey for every entrepreneur.

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