KitKat Chinese New Year



Role: Creative Direction, Development

Medium: Mobile Augmented Reality

Client:
Nestlé Malaysia   
For KitKat, our team at the Mill created a multifaceted social AR experience for Chinese New Year. The ask was to create an experience that works on multiple faces, and integrates four distinct motifs. We also had to reinvent a CGI dragon as a lightweight real time asset. 


The jumping off point for this brief was the new Farbled (marbled with flavor) Kitkat product. Four seasonal wrappers were introduced each with their own distinct iconography.  I handled creative direction on this project as well as development. 





Users can choose between four seasonal greetings to create their own unique content. Each greeting is accompanied by unique interactive elements calling back to the limited edition KitKat wrappers.



The 3D Elements

One challenge with this project was balancing all the client's requested elements: four wrapper items (bamboo, coins, oranges, flowers), Farbled KitKat fingers, an animated dragon, four text greetings, and tappable motifs that burst into fireworks.

I led the Mill team in Shanghai to create and optimize the 3D assets for mobile. I also developed the effect, including animations, shaders, materials, and transitions.











The Design Elements

Icons and text greetings also needed to be designed for this effect. I refined the icons and designed the text greetings to make sure they complimented the existing experience while aligning with the brand guidelines. 

The final published piece included and ad buy element with an augmented ad linking users to the effect on Instagram, and local influencer talent was featured in the campaign to capture the audiences attention.