Out of the blue, Google have announced the codename for the next version of their Android operating system. The next sweet Google update is called Android 4.4 KitKat. The next update has been just named and no other details have been revealed, but that isn’t the real story here, it’s the name. Google and Nestle are now in a bizarre tie-up to promote Android KitKat. Watch the hilarious parody promo video from KitKat –
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKOrkLxOBoY
This is easily the biggest marketing coup for both the companies because candy bars are not usually the associated brands for Tech marketing, but Android’s flavor-based naming has really done them good with this announcement. While Google Android based devices will proudly wear the moniker on all of its 4.4 phones, Nestle plans to release 50 million KitKat bars with the Android mascot on the labels. here’s how it will look like –
If you can closely notice in the image above, there is actually a contest on the wrapper that places Nexus 7 vouchers and Google Play credit. So, basically these 50 million bars are limited edition with gifts, what a really smart move! More details of the contest have been revealed by Android Police –
The contest will be offering up 1000 Nexus 7 tablets, 150,000 $5 Google Play credits, and 20,000 coupons for a free bag of 8 ounce bag of Kit Kat Minis. It all kicks off September 6th and runs through January 31, 2014.
I guess it’s time to search for those elusive Android KitKat bars around the world! They’ll be available in India too!
As bizarre as it may sound, the partnership was not an exchange of money according to John Lagerling, Director of Android’s Global partnerships.
“This is not a money-changing-hands kind of deal,” John Lagerling, director of Android global partnerships, told the BBC.
On how Google did a “cold call” to Nestle for this deal –
Although the developers had referred to the forthcoming version as KLP in internal documents, Mr Lagerling said the team decided late last year to opt instead for the chocolate bar.
“We realised that very few people actually know the taste of a key lime pie,” he explained.
“One of the snacks that we keep in our kitchen for late-night coding are KitKats. And someone said: ‘Hey, why don’t we call the release KitKat?’
“We didn’t even know which company controlled the name, and we thought that [the choice] would be difficult. But then we thought well why not, and we decided to reach out to the Nestle folks.”
Mr Lagerling said he had made a “cold call” to the switchboard of Nestle’s UK advertising agency at the end of November to propose the tie-up
The next day, the Swiss firm invited him to take part in a conference call. Nestle confirmed the deal just 24 hours later.
“Very frankly, we decided within an hour to say let’s do it,” Patrice Bula, Nestle’s marketing chief told the BBC.
On how Google and Nestle tried to keep it secret until today –
Executives from the two firms met face to face at a secret event held at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February to finalise the details.
To promote the alliance, Nestle now plans to deliver more than 50 million chocolate bars featuring the Android mascot to shops in 19 markets, including the UK, US, Brazil, India, Japan and Russia.
The packaging had to be produced in advance over the past two months. But despite the scale of the operation, the two firms managed to keep the story a secret,
“Keeping it confidential was paramount to Google’s strategy,” acknowledges Mr Bula. “Absolutely nothing leaked.”
The Android team also took steps to preserve the element of surprise, notifying only a “tight team” about the decision.
“We kept calling the name Key Lime Pie internally and even when we referred to it with partners,” revealed Mr Lagerling.
“If we had said, ‘The K release is, by the way, secret’, then people would have racked their minds trying to work out what it was going to be.”
Sounds like a really interesting way to promote, as well as make the next update so much more visible than it could ever have. Fascinating marketing move from both the companies, and we wish there’s more to the story that’s revealed later. What do you think of the name? Good or bad? Let us know in the comments section below.
Source BBC UK Android KitKat