Taking brief diversions, per scientific studies, can improve focus. And many people, especially the Gen Z demographic, use social media for that purpose.
To provide them with a much-needed break, KitKat is debuting the Blink Break, letting its Instagram users compete in an AI-powered staring contest. Posts are timed to mid-afternoon breaks.
Paul Shearer, Global Chief Creative Officer at Wunderman Thompson, said the work “gives the brand a chance to show up and show off their legendary positioning in a fresh and relevant way to a new audience.”
Using MediaPipe’s Face Mesh technology, the online game is enabled with a single camera input that recognizes a face and detects blinking. Participants face off against progressively more absurd animals, from a lemur to a snowy owl, as they play.
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With a pause in the action between each level, those who play are also encouraged to compete against each other and share their results using #blinkchallenge.
“KitKat has famously encouraged people to have a break since 1957. This campaign shows a whole generation of digital natives the benefits of taking a break in one of the most relevant contexts for them,” said Wael Jabi, global strategic marketing and communications lead at KitKat.
Separately, Wunderman Thompson, a WPP agency, launched a unified commerce service in North America in early May which lets clients engage their customers throughout the shopping
journey. The service combines strategy and consulting, ecommerce media, and data insights.