THE KITKAT HEIST
Brand
KITKAT
Entrant Agency
VML
Category
Media
Festival & Year
Cannes Lions (2026)
Case Study Details
THE KITKAT HEIST - KitKat - Burson (London) / VML (London) - CANNES LIONS 2026
Presentation Board
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ms The good news: there are no
| Concerns for consumer safety,
‘ a 1/ i a Z and supply is not affected. ., REACHED WITH a ARTICLES
! ‘A HUGE IN re Thank you 413,793 KITKATS HAVE :
ASTOMPAN BEEN STOLEN. =
IS YOURS ONE OF THEM?
70.5 BILLION
SOCIAL REACH
‘SOURCE: TALAWALKER
HARNESSING THE BIGGEST MEDIA CHANNEL TO HELP SOLVE A REAL-WORLD CRIME
Idea: We turned all that attention into action. The Stolen KitKat Tracker empowered the online community to become
detectives, checking batch codes to discover if their KitKat was stolen. A simple digital tool, deployed at scale, that
not only encouraged purchase but revealed a verified lead for the police investigation
Context: A week before Easter, a key sales moment for chocolate, KitKat faced a supply chain
crisis: 12 tonnes were stolen in transit. Rather than hide it, we posted the story to capture the
social world’s attention.
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