Nestle Kit Kat TVC uses singing squirrels for new spin on proposition

 A TVC created by JWT Delhi and Gobsmack Productions for Kit Kat has taken a fresh spin on their proposition “Have a Break, Have a Kit Kat”. The film features two guys sitting in a park; while one is working on his laptop, the other decides to take a break and decides to munch on a Kit Kat. During the break, he witnesses a male squirrel serenading his female love with a Bollywood song. As his friend hasn't seen the spectacle, the guy doesn't know if what he saw was real or not at the end of it. The voiceover says that even if life is busy, take a break once in a while with a Kit Kat and maybe life will show you something that makes it worthwhile. The film ends with the squirrel humming, “Kit Kat break banta hai [Take a Kit Kat break].” 

A note from JWT Delhi explained the process of creating the singing squirrels: It began by studying various Bollywood moves which would look natural with the squirrel’s body structure. Layouts of shots that required animation were finalised and the initial movements were created on a 3D skeleton frame. The picture edits were established with dummy squirrels while the squirrels in the final TVC were created through CGI [computer generated images]. Since the squirrels also had to lip-sync to a song, the animated body moves and the lip movements were then locked in. Most of the work was done in separate teams and once all the animation and texturing were completed, the colours and textures of each shot were matched (a necessary measure as the weather was alternating between bright sunshine and dark and cloudy on the day the movements with the dummy were shot). In order to to get the squirrel singing tone right, significant engineering on the audio front was done.  Music composer Amar Mangrulkar recreated the track and also sang the tune. 

B Kannan, general manager of chocolates and confectionery at Nestle India, said, “The new TVC is also a creative leap and brings in a fresh, emotional approach that focuses not on the brand, but the benefit.” 

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Agency: JWT India

Creative: Anuja Chauhan

Servicing: Joy Chauhan

Production house: Gobsmack

Director:  Shyam Madiraju

Agency producer: Suprotim Day

VFX company: Radium, LA

Music arranger & squirrel voice: Amar Mangrulkar