It benefits both: KitKat is a great name for an Android release, it's alliterative, more recognizable, and of course it offers co-branding and co-marketing opportunities galore. It's a great business opportunity.
But there's a better reason that's less obvious: this is great marketing because it's fun. It's sort of funny that your phone runs on a candy bar, and your candy bar is fully supportive of it. It's a refreshing counterplay to what would otherwise be a horrible and usually expected lawsuit over the naming rights.
It's brilliant marketing, and brilliant UX on a grand scale. True props to these teams for working together and having some fun. A success of honesty and humanity that may or may not be insanely successful, but is at least authentic and refreshing.
Wow -- you managed to call crass, vapid consumerism built around substandard unhealthy confection 'authentic and refreshing'.
That's impressive. What would be more impressive is if Google hadn't sold out their userbase to Idiocracy-style co-branding with a diabetes inducing sugar product.
In other news:
This is a Pepsi Cola Comment: Maximize Your Thrist!
Yeah, it's how I interpreted it, it's how others will likely interpret it. I'm qualified to say this because I'm a designer and marketing professional and have a knack for empathy and understanding how a variety of people will perceive campaigns. Connotations and evoked feelings are a huge part of this, and Google-Kat has achieved those feelings of authenticity here without a doubt. It's a good campaign.
But there's a better reason that's less obvious: this is great marketing because it's fun. It's sort of funny that your phone runs on a candy bar, and your candy bar is fully supportive of it. It's a refreshing counterplay to what would otherwise be a horrible and usually expected lawsuit over the naming rights.
It's brilliant marketing, and brilliant UX on a grand scale. True props to these teams for working together and having some fun. A success of honesty and humanity that may or may not be insanely successful, but is at least authentic and refreshing.