In the spring of 2019, Nestle introduced a new take on the beloved KitKat bar, the KitKat Senses. Nestlé and their agency Zenith found their young consumer audience was often on the go and could be difficult to reach.
Building off this insight, Nestlé needed to find ways to these audiences in relevant environments, like mobile. Nestlé understood that while mobile usage is at an all time high, it doesn’t mean that people are always looking at their phone.
They decided to test audio ads as a way to reach these consumers. Audio ads allow marketers to engage people in the crucial moments when they are actively using their mobile devices, even when they are not looking at their screens.
Nestlé’s goals for this campaign were to see if they could maximize reach through premium audio inventory and to understand the benefits of running audio alongside their existing campaigns. To do this Nestlé used Display & Video 360 to access Spotify inventory for audio ads. Zenith then designed an A/B test for KitKat Senses, where they looked at performance for a display and video only campaign versus display and video combined with audio.
By adding programmatic audio to their existing media mix, Nestlé was able to reach people on the go with a clear message for consumers to get their KitKat. The test results showed an increase of 58% in incremental reach when including audio in comparison to display and video only campaigns. The consolidated campaign also reached 21% more unique consumers by adding audio.
Based on the success of their consolidated display, video and audio campaigns, Nestlé is continuing to include audio in programmatic buys as a way to drive incremental reach and to increase their brand metrics.
