KFC WAS LOSING TRACTION AND LTO CAMPAIGN EFFECTIVENESS WAS WEAKENING

KFC is the original leader of fried chicken in Hong Kong but the brand was losing traction when chicken was also sold by the vast array of fast food options. Limited Time Offer (LTO) promotions ran monthly and weren’t as able to drive orders and sales anymore.

COMPETITION WAS OUTSPENDING KFC SIGNIFICANTLY IN PAID MEDIA

McDonald’s, the main competitor, was outspending KFC by multiples in advertising. With a much smaller budget, KFC had to be creative and find ways to gain publicity through earned media and organic sharing.

OUR CHALLENGE: SHOW THAT EARNED CREATIVE GROWS SALES MORE EFFECTIVELY THAN LTO

With a tiny budget of USD 32,000, we couldn’t afford any advertising and would have to earn attention from, to attract people to visit and eat at KFC.

Hong Kong is one of the most stressed cities in the world. And one of the main triggers of stress amongst our core demographic of 15-40 year-olds is overthinking.

But we came across scientific studies showing that comfort food reduces stress. As the leader of juicy fried chicken, the ultimate comfort food, we wanted to put this theory to test by challenging Hong Kongers to relax in our world of Finger Lickin’ Good chicken.

We flipped the famous KFC Bucket upside down and added a built-in real-time brainwave detection device and turned it into a helmet which determined the stress level of the person wearing it – and in doing so created a fun piece of technology for people and news outlets to identify with and talk about.

To enable people to experience our invention, we created the Brainwave Bucket booth and activation in the KFC’s flagship store.

The KFC brand focused on developing a relationship with Gen Z (15-27 y.o.) while continuing to appeal to its core customers of DINKs and families (27-40 y.o.).

Secondary research told us Hong Kong is the most stressed city in East Asia, with people overthinking everything from money and big life decisions, to what their friends think, or what to have for lunch. We believed the topic of stress and overthinking would resonate across demographics.

We uncovered scientific papers that show comfort food physiologically reducing stress. And we knew that our world-famous fried chicken is the ultimate comfort food for many people around Hong Kong.

And so rather than talk about it, all we needed to do was show people that our fried chicken had the power to momentarily ease their overactive minds – and the most compelling way to do this is with a live trial using real-time data.

Leading up to the event, we launched a series of social assets on our owned channels teasing our invention, hinting at the reason for the invention and the upcoming event.

In Phase One, we welcomed the media to join the experience at the KFC flagship store.

Media amplified to customers around Hong Kong so they would be intrigued to come along and try for themselves. We targeted lifestyle, tech and news media to cover the campaign in their publications and on their social channels. This was a great success, amplifying the campaign, the brand and the message to people from all walks of life, triggering their craving for KFC.

Then in Phase Two, we announced the experience to the general public via KFC’s own social channels and in-store posters, causing people to queue up from store open to close to try it out, growing orders and sales.

BECOMING THE TALK OF THE TOWN

Brand Objective: Drive positive sentiment about KFC

Brand Results: With a tiny budget of USD 32,000, we couldn’t afford any advertising and would have to earn attention. Our campaign was covered by major news, business, lifestyle, and technology media, helping us to reach consumers for free.

213 news outlets shared articles

1.2+ billion impressions

US$1.5M earned media value

100% of articles delivered positive sentiment

STRONG SALES, HIGHER ROI WITH EARNED MEDIA

Business Objective: Show that earned creative could deliver stronger traffic and sales than LTO campaigns

Business Results: Our activation held at a single KFC store managed to increase orders and sales for stores across the entire city compared to the previous month when LTO campaigns ran with advertising.

+17.1% in sales over Hong Kong (vs. previous month)

+11.68% increase in orders (vs. the previous month)