Slogans - catchy, long lasting and with inbuilt bounce back

Happy New Year to you! I thought I'd continue in the vein of the onslaught of Christmas sweeties by writing about confectionery slogans. This time it's Kit Kat's "Have a break. have a Kit-Kat" 

Over 900 people have visited this blog its original location - well if, for the sake of your waistline, you should stop eating chocolate you can at least read about it...

This slogan of slogans was created  in 1957 by Donald Gilles of J Walther Thompson. Initially referring to the welcome 11am break (“elevenses”) common to factories,  the flexibility of the phrase led to its longevity in that taking a break from something could be applied to all sorts of situations.

37 years later Nestle Rowntree decided to take its own advice and took a break from the slogan. The  theory behind the change was that extensive market research had shown that whilst most people knew the slogan it did not convince them to buy the product.

I can’t think why I can mentally taste it as soon as I typed the original slogan! Please tell me I’m not the only one...

And so the new slogan “Make the most of your break” was introduced by a £5 million campaign and surprise surprise no one liked it and so the company quietly returned to the original.

I would have thought they’d had a bit of a clue from the research which you will recall said – “whilst most people knew the slogan…” but who am I to question such corporate wisdom?

However, there you go - seems you can’t hold a good slogan down.