An internal notebook for Nestlé’s KitKat team, and what survived the cut
How It Started
January 2024, at Mindspace. The KitKat team at Nestlé wanted an internal notebook for their offices. Basic on the cover, creative inside. A5, English only, focus on the logo rather than the product. One message across the whole book: Have a break, have a KitKat.
Other deliverables in the same job: post-its, pens, stress balls. The notebook was the main event.
The Thinking
A notebook that belongs to a KitKat team shouldn’t be a notebook. It should be a series of breaks with some notes in between.
So I treated every page break as a literal “have a break” moment. A game, a joke, a haiku, a coupon, a mirror. Something to stop the pen for a second and get you to smile before getting back to work.
Eleven page break concepts. Each one different. Each one doing exactly what the brand tagline has always promised.
What I Wrote
Intro message (after the cover):
We know you’re gonna use this for work and stuff, which is great.
But do us a favor, yeah?
Between all the scribbles and the notes;
All those meetings and those emails;
All the times you feel like calling it a day.
Please remember to have a break.
And maybe a KitKat <3
Page break 1. A maze.
If you’re already here; great work! Maybe it’s time for a break, yeah? Here, pretend you’re younger and solve this maze.
Page break 2. A rhyme.
Eat a steak? Grab a Rake? Buy a Lake? Have a Break? Yes. Yes you will.
Have a break; there are so many more pages left.
Page break 3. A haiku.
A hand writes more thoughts
Many deadlines and projects
One must have a break
(And a KitKat, maybe.)
Page break 4. A bird, drawn with a pen held by two KitKat fingers.
Why? Well, why not? Have a break, have a KitKat, and have this bird.
Page break 5. Paper plane folding instructions.
Got some ideas you want to fly? Write them down and send them off! Have a break, even while you work.
Page break 6. A redeemable voucher. A literal tear-off page.
If you’ve gotten this far; you should be promoted by now. Have a break; take this page to the commissary for a free KitKat.
Page break 7. A reflective mirror page.
Have a look at yourself. What a hottie! Come back here to have a break and a boost.
Page break 8. A retro Soviet propaganda poster.
Coffee!? NO. RATHER KITKAT. Have Break; Have KitKat. Is good.
Page break 9. A doodle page. Butter paper laid over an image of a KitKat so people could trace it or doodle on top.
Have a (Doodle) Break, Have a KitKat.
What They Kept
Three things made it into the final notebook.
The cover. A green scribble blob on red, with “Have a break, have a KitKat” underneath. The blob is a doodle spot. A reference to my page break 10 concept, just relocated to the cover.
The maze. Concentric rings, a broken KitKat at the center, arrow at the top to show where to start. They kept the mechanic exactly.
A hybrid doodle page. Sketchy arrows pointing to “More Lists,” “Off On A Tangent,” “Crazy Thoughts,” “Mind Map,” “Brainstorm,” “Or never mind…” A single page that acknowledges the notebook is for many things at once, including breaks.
That’s the whole interior creative. Three executions out of eleven.
What Got Cut
The haiku. The mirror page. The paper plane instructions. The steak-rake-lake rhyme. The bird drawn with KitKat fingers. The redeemable commissary coupon. The Soviet poster. The intro message asking Nestlé staff to please remember to have a break.
Some of the cuts were obvious on production grounds. The mirror page needed reflective paper. The coupon needed a perforated tear-off. Production constraints are production constraints.
Why This Work Matters to Me
Half of what copywriters do is pitch wide so the client can pick narrow. You write eleven ideas knowing full well they’ll pick three. The hope is always that the three they pick are the three strongest. Sometimes the three that survive are just the three that are cheapest to produce, and that’s also fine.
What I keep from this project is the full document. The intro message asking Nestlé staff to please take breaks. The paper plane diagram. The mirror page. The redeemable KitKat coupon. That’s the version I wanted to live in.
The notebook that shipped is a good notebook. The notebook I wrote is a better one.
Project: KitKat Notebook
Role: Copywriting, Concept
Year: 2024
Agency: Mindspace
Client: Nestlé (KitKat)