How One Direction helped KitKat get its most retweeted tweet ever

If it’s anyone in the world who deserves a break, it’s One Direction.

Ever since being thrusted into the spotlight five years after appearing on “The X Factor (UK),” the British boy band has endured a grueling string of tours, album releases and publicity appearances.

Well, it’s all coming to an end in March, when the band says it’s taking a “hiatus.”

KitKat, probably sensing its “Oreo moment,” jumped on the news Thursday to capitalize on its iconic “Have a Break” moment, tweeting this (and shamelessly tagging the band members):

Twitter and One Direction go together just as good as chocolate and wafers (after all, One Direction accounted for half of the 10 most retweeted tweets on Twitter this year), so the odds were in their favor of this being a massive viral hit. Thanks to some assistance by way of a retweet from singer Liam Payne and his 21.5 million followers, KitKat’s tweet garnered 66,000 retweets and 84,000 likes, making it brand’s most popular tweet ever. 

Prior to this, KitKat’s #bendgate tweet mocking the iPhone’s bending abilities was its most popular tweet, with 13,000 likes and 66,000 retweets, but this eclipsed that by far.

“You always try these things with a bit of hope, but don’t really expect such a personality to take notice,” Barry Christie, the creative director of J. Walter Thompson, the agency behind the tweet, told Digiday. “We have heard before that 1D are partial to a KitKat or two, so there was an inkling of hope,” he added pointing to the brands previous reactive tweets have been popular, like #bendgate.

The tweet ignited a wave of ecstatic responses from One Direction’s fans begging the brand to sell the customized candy bars:  

 

KitKat, you better listen up before the teens hyperventilate.

https://digiday.com/?p=152843

More in Marketing

Digiday+ Research deep dive: Agency spending on TikTok sees a sharp decline

Agency marketers have historically been more skeptical toward TikTok than their brand marketer counterparts, and a Digiday+ Research survey found that agency spending on TikTok has fallen sharply in the last few months.

The Home Depot rebrands its retail media network in pitch for ad dollars

The Home Depot hosted its inaugural InFront, a play on the television industry’s UpFronts or NewFronts, digital media’s answer to the upfronts, for its retail media offering.

Why Georgia-Pacific consolidated most retail media spending with seven networks after testing over 25 options

Figuring out which retail media network is worth spending on given the glut of new retail media networks can be a challenge for marketers.