KIT KAT's Singing Hologram Offers Cheer to Hard-working Students

KIT KAT sounds like “kitto katsu,” which means “surely win” in Japanese. That’s made the chocolate bar from Nestlé a popular gift for students studying for university entrance exams, as a way to give them some encouragement during what is surely one of the most stressful times in a young person’s life.

Building off its award-winning KITMAIL, where parents, friends and teachers can send KIT KAT bars in special mail packages with a handwritten note to students, Nestlé launched KIT MAIL Hologram last month.

The package includes a KIT KAT bar as well as a pre-cut clear plastic pattern. Students assemble the pattern into a pyramid-like structure with a flat top, and place it upside down on a smartphone. When the student plays a designated YouTube video by the Japanese boy band DISH//, the boys are reflected on the pyramid’s clear walls, resembling a hologram. The darker the room, the clearer the image.

The members of DISH//, dressed in red uniform, dance and sing to encourage students - “Believe in yourself! I know you can do this” – offering brief company and welcome respite from the lonely work of preparing for exams.

“Students studying for entrance exams are not alone, even though their friends and family live far away. With KIT MAIL Hologram, the four boys from the band DISH// suddenly appear as a hologram in the room to encourage them,” said J. Walter Thompson Japan’s Senior Creative Director Kohei Kawasaki.

The packages are now being sold in post offices throughout Japan, ahead of exam season, which usually runs from January through March.