How KFC mixed creativity and marketing science to deliver a mid-crisis advertising masterclass and 'insane' sales ...

What is it about fast food as a category that results in such excellent advertising?

McDonald's have been pushing out world class insight driven creative for years.

Burger King are one of the hottest brands in the world, led by a true supporter of creativity in Fernando Machado. Just this week they won a 'Grand Effie'.

Others like Taco Bell and Popeyes Chicken tend to lead the way in the social/digital space.

And then there's KFC.

Many brands are totally solipsistic & inward looking. They live in fantasy worlds and never acknowledge rough edges.

But KFC are the opposite.

Along with agency partners Mother London, the brand has delivered some brilliant work by embracing the culture of their category, and not being afraid to poke fun at themselves or others.

They've created fake health influencers to launch 'dirty' burgers.

They've pointed out cheap imitations in a 'mafia' themed spot.

They've purposely drawn attention to criticism of their fries and turned it into advertising for a new recipe.

They've owned up to a massive supply chain 'fck up' with a simple print ad playing on their famous letters.

And they've celebrated Christmas by having their chicken face off against the horror of 'burnt, overdone, chewy, dry' turkey.

Navigating the pandemic challenge

Like all brands, KFC have had a tough few months with all 900 UKI stores closed in March and lockdown making a big dint in sales.

But unlike others, they've embraced the challenges head on with some excellent work.

Mother London ECD Hermeti Balarin spoke with 'Contagious' a few weeks back. It's a great interview that I've re-read a few times.

There are some fascinating lessons on how to create brilliant, culturally impactful and timely advertising, along with sage nods to marketing science & smart media planning.

Here are what I believe to be the seven most important takeaways...

1) Use your distinctive assets relentlessly, but be willing to twist and play with them

KFC are masters at using their 'distinctive assets' (or what Mark Ritson would call 'brand codes'), from the bucket to the Colonel to their tagline and colours.

One of their most famous assets is the 'finger lickin chicken' line. In fact, they launched a brand new campaign in February dedicated to celebrating the joy of finger licking after eating chicken! (Not great timing eh?)

This campaign was pulled, but months later KFC have turned it on its head by actively played into the 'inappropriateness' of their 'finger lickin' tagline by blurring it out on all advertising! 

According to Balarin:

"Being the bold client that they are, they latched on to the idea that was the boldest. It’s saying that one of the most famous slogans in the world is suddenly one of the most inappropriate, so let’s just own up to it. Let’s not use it until it is safe to do so again. 

I think most brands would have looked at something like that and would have laughed, then moved on to something a little bit less provocative."

In doing so, they've arguably made the line more famous! Like with the 'FCK' ad, they've taken a brand code and twisted it, making it stand out even more.

KFC have spent so much time hammering home these icons, they're now comfortable to tweak and play with them in a manner that both reinforces the imagery while pulling it to pieces at the same time.

As Balarin said "every brand will have their DNA and how they speak, just find that and you’ll be surprised that you can appear in almost any situation, as long as it’s seen to be true to who you are."

2) Brand building needs big, mass reach media

There's a brilliant quote in the piece from Balarin who says:

"With media budgets being slashed and everything it would be really easy to shrink back into hard working programmatic, but KFC fought tooth and nail to give stature to the campaign and put it on as many big prime-time TV spots as they could."

We know what marketing science says on this topic. In order to build a brand you need visual mass media and ideally a mix of traditional and digital. To move the dial, particularly in a massive, competitive category like QSR, you need to grab the attention of huge swathes of the population. To maximise growth and profitability, talking to existing customers or niche audiences isn't enough.

KFC recognise that for brand building, certain media does the job better, and they reflect it in their media choices.

Many companies are cutting back on 'brand building' and investing in more short term channels. 62% of advertisers plan to pare back investment in brand building this year, while 32% intend to raise e-commerce spend.

KFC did the opposite. They also invested in 'big' OOH formats and long form press copy to create impact.

3) Strike when others are fearful

If you're prepared to look like an idiot in the short term, it can often pay off in the long term. The best time to invest is often at the bottom of the market.

Clearly there are some exceptions, but this is the advice many experienced marketers have been giving to most brands (including Binet & Field). Don't go dark if you can. Continue to invest in adstock and think of it as pre-emptive investment ahead of the curve designed to put you in good position for a sharp rise in demand when people start to spend again.

Again KFC took heed. They purposefully took advantage of the opportunity to gain reach, share of voice and cut through by going big when everyone else was quiet. From what we know about SOV:SOM, this will also benefit them over the long term.

According to KFC's Head Of Advertising Kate Wall, "to be spending on brand building right now is bold and brave, but it is absolutely what we’ve always done and we always see the results come in".

After pulling the 'Finger Lickin' campaign in February, KFC were tuned into the moment, were faster back on air and this has resulted in "the business going through a really great period".

Agility is a totally overused word in marketing, but having the cojones and speed to pull a campaign and then come back mid pandemic with something equally as stand out has to be admired. 

4) Avoid genericism and tired tropes

How many generic 'we're all in this together' covid ads have we seen?

According to Balarin, "a lot of brands went into quite a weird ‘we’re here for you’ mode, which felt quite cynical in lots of places."

Many brands changed their campaigns to reflect wider reality, but in doing so, made themselves generic and more invisible.

KFC did the opposite, they tried to inject some levity and fun back into their advertising. They understood that instead of violins and maudlin music, "brands could thrive by being the entertainment that people were missing".

While brands should obviously reflect the prevailing culture in society, sometimes people don't want their current reality to be played back to them, and many find it ridiculous for a brand to tell them we're 'in this together'.

5) Play into culture, don't ignore it.

As I've illustrated above, KFC take lessons from the likes of Nike by embracing the cultural reality rather than shying away from it, even to the point of actively highlighting their own mistakes!

During lockdown they picked up on the trend of people trying to re-create KFC at home and blew it up, launching a cheeky #RateMyKFC competition that grabbed attention as people were sitting at home, delivering a really nice example of brand building on social.

They also hosted a live streamed Instagram competition called 'KFC Clash' which pitted celebs against each other in the kitchen, attempting to re-create an iconic KFC dish, with all proceeds donating to Comic Relief.

Then when delivery re-opened, they created the 'We'll take it from here' spot which again poked fun at people's home-made KFC creation fails!

'Insane' sales

In summary, this is a fascinating case study in 'creative bravery' that also seems to be paying off commercially for the company with Balarin reporting 'insane' sales and UKI Marketing Director Kate Wall saying similar positive things about brand growth.

The moral of the story?

Great creative played out in big media, combined with an understanding of marketing science and sprinkled with a willingness to be brave/cheeky pays off in both the short and long term.

That's good mothercluckin' advertising.

Shane O'Leary

@shaneoleary1

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