KitKat is big in Japan. Each bar has six little fingers rather than four, as you’d find in other countries.Imagine, if you will, some of Nestlé’s variants in that country: melon, baked potato, saké, plum ... I could go on.In the land of the rising sun, the chocolate-covered wafer bar is so inextricably linked to the nation’s gifting and snacking culture that there are 300-plus bespoke flavours, some unique to certain regions.The story goes that, 15 years ago, Nestlé started noticing a spike in sales in January when throngs of shoppers would, as tradition dictated, buy KitKat bars as good-luck gifts for students sitting “juken”, the standardised university entrance exam.KitKat, it turns out, sounds similar to the phrase “kitto katsu”, a Japanese exam-season mantra that means “you will surely win”.Nestlé’s marketing smarts kicked in and in 2009 the group partnered with Japan Post, which was newly privatised, to launch postable KitKats.The postcard-like product, sold only at post offic...
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