KFC, as part of its brand relaunch, wanted to show consumers that they are culturally dialed in, on the pulse of things, and irreverently relevant. So when the Goblin-lookalike KFC employee started to make a buzz on social media, the brand responded immediately. The very next day, KFC trendjacked the topic and came out with an idea that would prove to be its most successful promo to date. And not just any regular promo – we wanted to make sure that it would tickle our Koreanovela fans’ hearts (and there are millions of them in the Philippines!) With this, KFC came out with a social engagement idea that’s close to the actual storyline of the blockbuster show itself... which is essentially, The Search for the Goblin’s Bride.

It only took one day for KFC to respond to the trending Facebook post about the lookalike Goblin working in one of their stores. We immediately organized a photoshoot with the employee and released an announcement on Facebook about the search for his lookalike bride. Thousands of entries came pouring in. Social media followers were highly engaged, as millions of people interacted with the promo online. News and entertainment sites picked up the story, while KFC kept the conversation alive by posting more promotional photos of their lookalike Goblin in the succeeding days. After a week, one winner was revealed. And due to popular demand, we brought the winning lookalike Bride together with KFC's lookalike Goblin in a fun photoshoot – and social media cheered on.

The promo was an overwhelming success – getting almost a BILLION impressions, all of which are organic. Local and international news outlets picked up the promo and even got the attention of popular Korean channels. A total of 3.7 million post engagements was achieved, while 1.7 million people talked about how fast KFC responded to the trending topic. And with only a budget of 60,000 pesos (approx. 1200 USD), the returns were 33 times over – earning almost 2 million pesos (approx 40000 USD) in media value, making this campaign the brand’s most successful promo to date.