The Moral Is: Don’t Be a Technology Snob

It’s sometimes easy to forget in today’s high-tech world that there is still an important place for “low-tech” media. A tip of the hat to JWT Tokyo, which recently won an award for a breakthrough campaign — designed to market the Nestlé Kit Kat candy bar — that centered on a 4,000-year-old technology: snail mail.

The ad agency was struck by the Japanese translation of Kit Kat (“Kitto Katso” means “surely win”) and the tradition of sending good luck wishes to students before important exams. So they collaborated with Japan Post to create Kit Kat Mail, a new postcard-like, good luck charm that could be purchased only at the post office … the equivalent of 20,000 entirely new, competitor-free retail outlets for Nestle’s.

According to Advertising Age, the campaign generated the $11 million in ad equivalency and Kit Kat Mail has become a permanent part of Japanese pop culture. Even in one of the world’s most technology-driven countries, it’s clear that there are plenty of opportunities to be had, if you just slow down and look around.