KFC is a Number 2 player in the QSR category, at a time when consumers are seeking on-the-go coffee and salads-a far cry from fried chicken.

Since 2014, KFC had been a sponsor of Super Rugby achieving a limited 21% awareness through a passive approach using ground signage and players featured in TVC’s largely due to restrictions around fast-food advertising.

Therefore the sponsorship had never directly driven sales.

We were tasked to shift our sponsorship gears up a notch, increase sponsorship awareness by 10% and increase chicken sales by at least half a million in sales, despite the hourly competition for share of mouth.

But first we needed to establish our right to play across 5 Super Rugby Franchises, Rugby Players, Managers, 7 Stadiums, as well as TV broadcasters. From that negotiation vantage point we needed to engage the fans to drive sales.

Our activity ran across the 4 month Rugby season, 15 games, 1500 minutes of match time and included:

1. Promotion: Buy to win tickets to game

• Player, Fan and Meal Offer TVC’s in and out of game to drive reach and store traffic.

• Radio: KFC For the Fans content pieces on air, on street and at game-hosted fanzone events. Including Pandora playlists created by the players themselves for their fans.

• Adshels near stadiums, stadium signage

• Special build Super Rugby Selfie Stations in high dwell zones.

2. 15 In game activations via Fanzones and Buckethats.

• Player meet and greet

• BucketHat merchandise

• KFC seat and eat

• Social media ambassadors capturing and sharing content back out to our hub.

• We also negotiated crowd-panning Buckethead shots at every game.

3. Forthefans.co.nz hub

A content and promotion hub sharing buckethead moments and memories driven by 3 posts a week on facebook and BucketHead fan UGC