2024 Silver Launch

Agency: RAPP

Client: KFC

Entry Title: From finger waggin’ to finger lickin’

Executive Summary

KFC has been finger lickin’ good for nearly sixty years. But its fries weren’t standing up to the competition or social media scrutiny.

Strategy

Launching ‘Fries 2.0’ was planned to be a big brand moment driving buzz and fame. The new Signature Fries offered an opportunity to drive taste credentials.

KFC knows how impactful leaning into an uncomfortable brand truth can be. When it ran out of chicken, the brand’s reactive ‘FCK’ empty bucket ad reached 800 million people through editorial coverage alone.

No one else in the category could run such a campaign, the team believed. It decided to actively acknowledge the point of view of the brand’s detractors, and targeted dissenting customers to give the new fries a chance.

Creativity

The customer-centric campaign around new fries started with their current perception. The tease put an asterisk on all of KFC’s well-known endlines with a short disclaimer: “*We've said ‘Finger Lickin’ Good’ with great pride for decades. But really, we've not been entirely truthful to our customers. Because we’re sad to say that doesn't apply to our entire menu. Fries are the exception.”

Disgruntled influencers and customers were targeted with a personalised apology and an offer to try the product. They were asked for feedback.

Results

The creative approach generated as much positive chat and brand engagement as the fries themselves: retargeted customers went from finger wagging to finger licking. It was one of the most successful product launches in KFC’s history:

• 2,000% increase in fries purchased for key customer segments
• 112% increase in app sessions
• 72% of customers loved the new fries

The Team

KFC - Aislinn Campbell, Customer Growth Marketing Manager - Victoria Mans, CRM Manager - Mostafa Ouanounou, Digitial Product Owner - Jaime Arribas, Senior Marketing Technology Manager

RAPP - Emma Jose, Senior Project Manager - Tor Tompson, Managing Partner - Jordan Miller, Senior Account Director - Al Mackie, CCO - Gabbrielle Ludzker, CEO - Matt Wiseman, Planning Partner - Tain Joliffe, Strategy Director - Hiten Bhatt, Head of Design - Simon Cheshire Senior Designer - Joe Martin, Middleweight Designer - Ryan Albuino, Associate Creative Director - Will Clark, Associate Creative Director - Molly Barnes, Middleweight Creative - Adela Nash, Middleweight Creative - Caroline Garnar, Deputy Head of Copy & Content - Oz Osborne, Head of 3D and Motion Graphics - Mark Deamer, Head of Creative Imaging - Matthew Culmer, Virtual Production Producer - Melanie Herekar, VP Data Analytics - Raphaela Ring, Senior Data Strategist - Martin Chappell, Senior Data Analyst