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

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

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