Nestlé Packs GPS Devices Into Chocolate Bars to Track Down Buyers

Nestlé’s Kit-Kat just landed the role of the Wonka Bar in a modern version of the famed Golden Ticket scene in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

The company has installed GPS units inside the wrappers of six Kit-Kat bars. While those chocoholics who are lucky enough to unwrap one of the GPS-enabled bars won’t be crammed into an elevator with lickable wallpaper and set free to roam an entirely edible garden, they will be rewarded with a check for £10,000, or about $16,000. The GPS-based promotion, will take place in the United Kingdom.

The campaign, creepily called “We Will Find You”,  actually involves four of Nestlé’s most-craved confections: KitKat 4 Finger, KitKat Chunky, Aero Peppermint Medium and Yorkie Milk. As reported by the York Press, Nestlé’s company spokesman explained that the GPS-enabled bars look exactly the same as those sans the tracking device. Furthermore, he stated:

“Inside six lucky packs, there will be a GPS enabled bar, which, when the winner pulls the tab, notifies the prize team who will leap into action locating the winner within 24 hours.”

(Cue: Veruca Salt whines, tugs at her daddy’s pant-leg. “I want a GPS NOW!”).

Nestlé reported that the campaign was designed to appeal mostly to men who are known to be the sex fonder of GPS technology. The strategy will include TV ads as well as an accompanying smartphone (or other NFC-enabled devices) campaign where users can scan Kit-Kat QR codes in order to enter the contest online.

Believe it or not, Nestle is not the first company to use GPS technology as a marketing tact to track down who’s purchasing their goods. Unilever, a soap company, installed tracking devices into 50 boxes of laundry soap in Brazil and awarded the lucky buyers by showing up at their homes with various prizes.

…and on that note…I think I’ll dust off my metal detector and head to the UK. Good luck, chocolate-loving blokes!

*cc images from Flickr, link is resource.