That's What I Call Marketing

S5 Ep1: What KitKat Gets Right About Attention, Breaks & Consistency with Wael Jabi

That's What I Call Marketing

Show Notes

Kit Kats Global Head of Marketing Shares what it really takes to build and protect an iconic global brand?

In this season opener for Season 5 of That’s What I Call Marketing, Conor Byrne is joined by Wael Jabi, KitKats Global Head of Marketing at Nestlé, for a deep conversation about brand judgement, consistency, partnerships, and the decisions that quietly shape long-term growth.

Wael’s career spans Leo Burnett, Procter & Gamble, and Nestlé, and the discussion moves well beyond surface-level case studies. Together, they explore what KitKat teaches us about resisting reinvention, diagnosing the right marketing problems under pressure, and how major cultural platforms like Formula 1 can be used to express brand meaning rather than dilute it.

This is a practical, reflective conversation for CMOs, brand leaders, and senior marketers who care about building brands that last not just chasing short-term performance. Topics covered include: Why most brands don’t need reinvention they need restraint The marketing failure that taught Wael when price becomes the wrong answer What KitKat gets right about consistency and memory structures How to think about F1 and major sponsorships without losing brand meaning Brand vs performance decisions under pressure Why judgement matters more than tactics at senior levels

01:55 – Wael’s career path: agency to P&G 05:50 – Why advertising isn’t the most important thing 09:40 – A pricing decision that went wrong 14:20 – Diagnosing the wrong marketing problem 18:40 – KitKat and brand consistency 23:15 – “Breaks are broken” insight 26:50 – Making iconic work at global scale 30:20 – Formula 1 and partnerships 34:50 – Showing up in your world vs theirs 38:20 – Judgement under pressure 41:00 – What’s next for KitKat

Thanks to Tracksuit for their partnership with this episode, check out https://www.gotracksuit.com to find out more about the always on brand tracking platform That’s What I Call Marketing is where marketers come for real conversations about brand, B2B, creativity, effectiveness and the future of the profession. Hosted by Conor Byrne, the show features conversations with CMOs, marketing leaders, agency leaders, authors, thinkers and practitioners about what good marketing looks like in practice.

Listen, follow and find more episodes at: https://www.thatswhaticallmarketing.com Connect with Conor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/conorbyrneirl/ If you enjoy the show, please follow, subscribe and leave a review. It helps more marketers find the conversations. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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