KitKat turns out-of-office emails into free-chocolate ASCII ads — Loeries Grand Prix

In the UAE and Saudi Arabia the year-end holiday season is not an official holiday, so most employees stay at their desks while colleagues switch off and inboxes flood with out-of-office replies. Brand trackers showed KitKat's 'have a break' association was fading, especially with younger consumers.

Hijack the out-of-office auto-reply: turn the email everyone dreads into an ASCII-art KitKat ad with a code for a free chocolate bar.

KitKat and Publicis Middle East built an online OOO generator; employees created ASCII-art auto-replies in monospaced fonts (chosen so the emails passed firewalls and rendered on any device) with personalised holiday scenarios and a promo code redeemable for a free KitKat via grocery app InstaShop. Every forwarded reply became a brand impression KitKat never paid for, and the generator stayed open for every break in the calendar.

663,338 employees reached, 200,000+ customized OOO emails sent and 70,000 KitKats redeemed; the campaign won a Grand Prix at the 2025 Loeries with no traditional media buying.

In the UAE and Saudi Arabia the year-end holiday season is not an official holiday. Most employees stay at their desks while colleagues switch off, and their inboxes flood with out-of-office replies from people who are away. Brand health trackers showed KitKat's 'have a break' association was fading, especially with younger consumers in two markets where hustle is glorified and rest is undervalued.

KitKat and Publicis Middle East turned the dreaded OOO reply into the campaign itself. An online generator produced auto-replies written entirely in ASCII art and monospaced fonts — a deliberate choice so the emails rendered through corporate firewalls on any device — each one built around a personalised holiday scenario and carrying a promo code for a free KitKat, redeemable through the regional grocery app InstaShop.

The replies ranged from fishing trips to alien invasions, and they spread by the mechanism email already has: people forward them. Every forwarded OOO email became a brand impression KitKat never paid for, aimed precisely at employees still at work. The generator stayed open beyond December, for every break in the calendar.

By the end of the campaign the replies had reached 663,338 employees, more than 200,000 customized OOO emails had been sent, and 70,000 KitKats were redeemed. In October 2025 the work won a Grand Prix at the Loeries, the Middle East and Africa's creative awards, and it also took a Bronze at the London International Awards.

The OOO reply is media the target audience must open: it is read by working professionals exactly when they cannot take a break.

The mechanic gave the audience a role — colleagues generated and forwarded the ads themselves, so distribution was personal and free.

It inverted a negative workplace ritual into positive brand meaning, performing KitKat's 'have a break' promise instead of claiming it.

The technical craft mattered: ASCII art in monospaced fonts was chosen to pass firewalls and render on every device and email client.

Find media the audience must already open: rituals like the OOO email are personal, scalable and free to forward — hand people a tool that makes the ritual fun.

The generator stayed live for every break in the calendar, and in April 2025 KitKat relaunched the idea as 'The Break That Keeps on Forwarding' for the summer break. The campaign won a Grand Prix at the 2025 Loeries, where Publicis Groupe was named Regional Agency of the Year, and earned a Bronze at the London International Awards for digital creativity on a budget.