2023 Winner
BronzeBest in Experiential/Stunts - Budget Under $100,000
KFC
"Fixed It"
Wavemaker / Courage
"Fixed It"
Wavemaker / Courage
With more than 40,000 restaurants in over 100 countries, McDonald’s is the world’s largest fast food chain by a pretty wide margin. In Canada, McDonald’s outdoes KFC in pretty much everything – they spend 10 times more on marketing, have twice as many stores, have 8 times the market share, and have 10 times the share of voice.
But while McDonald’s is inarguably the leader in fast food, they aren’t the leader when it comes to fried chicken – that’s KFC’s territory. So when the big, bad burger chain decided to steer into KFC’s lane with the launch of the Chicken Big Mac, a new twist on their signature sandwich, KFC wasn’t just going to watch it happen without doing anything.
The agency’s goal was to rain on McDonald’s launch day parade and reinforce their status as the undisputed champs when it comes to chicken. Their strategy was simple – if KFC has the best chicken, then any chicken sandwich would instantly be better with KFC’s famous fried chicken.
Early reviews critiqued the Chicken Big Mac's small, uninspiring patties. And research proved KFC's chicken was both better looking and, more importantly, better tasting. This gave us the confidence to boldly challenge the world's leading fast food chain.
Their idea was to ‘fix’ the underwhelming Chicken Big Mac by replacing its meager chicken patties with their generous, mouth watering KFC fried chicken.
The Chicken Big Mac was unveiled on March 2nd and released on the 7th, leaving us with five days to act. The timeline was tight and required all hands on deck. After collaborating swiftly with their agency partners and KFC, they achieved alignment in a day and immediately put the plan into action.
Within minutes of McDonald’s Canada announcing the launch on Twitter, KFC responded with a simple Tweet: “There, we fixed it,” accompanied by an image of the upgraded Chicken Big Mac using KFC’s mouth-watering chicken. The same visual was posted across KFC social channels calling out McDonald’s and its underwhelming entry into the chicken wars, and invited sandwich lovers, influencers, and media outlets to weigh in on who’s chicken was actually worth celebrating.
But they didn’t stop there. Through a coordinated effort between KFC’s advertising, PR and media teams, their ‘fixed’ Chicken Big Mac was brought to actual McDonald's locations with truck-sized billboards placed in front of their golden arches.
Having made ‘The Big Fix’ available at participating locations, they then partnered with prominent food influencers like @mukbangmaxwell, who helped spread the word on social media, prompting Canadians to buy it and film their reviews on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.
While many have tried to imitate the Big Mac, KFC was the first to successfully improve on this iconic sandwich. Demonstrating true iconicity, their 'fixed' Chicken Big Mac showcased how KFC's chicken can take any sandwich to the next level.
In an industry that’s fast becoming defined by real-time, response-driving advertising, “Fixed It” serves as the gold standard. In less than 24 hours, KFC hijacked McDonald’s biggest launch of the year with a simple Tweet, turned experiential stunt, that captured the media’s attention, reaching millions of Canadians. Then, they walked the walk, and added the “Fixed It’ sandwich to KFC’s secret menu – driving people in-store to try it for themselves. By being the first to capitalize off of McDonald’s launch, they created a moment in culture that further solidified KFC as the undisputed chicken champ. And it was all done for less than $30,000.
KFC in Canada might strike a chord with the older generation, but misses the mark with Millennials and Gen Z. They were challenged by the client to take bold risks, get talked about in culture, and stand out from the sea of QSRs.
Despite McDonald's having more marketing dollars, locations, and social media followers, KFC successfully hijacked the conversation during their much anticipated launch of the Chicken Big Mac. And in doing so, reminded Canadians that when it comes to chicken, everything's better with KFC.
Their ambitious goal to hijack the conversation was met with an impressive 18x increase in earned media compared to paid. The debate not only fueled a 72% increase in social engagement, it generated an 86% rise in positive brand perception for KFC. Best of all, it had a remarkable impact on the business, boosting sales by 5.1% and generating an impressive 2859% return on spend. And it was all done for only $30,000 all in.
Despite McDonald's having more marketing dollars, locations, and social media followers, KFC successfully hijacked the conversation during their much anticipated launch of the Chicken Big Mac. And in doing so, reminded Canadians that when it comes to chicken, everything's better with KFC.
But while McDonald’s is inarguably the leader in fast food, they aren’t the leader when it comes to fried chicken – that’s KFC’s territory. So when the big, bad burger chain decided to steer into KFC’s lane with the launch of the Chicken Big Mac, a new twist on their signature sandwich, KFC wasn’t just going to watch it happen without doing anything.
The agency’s goal was to rain on McDonald’s launch day parade and reinforce their status as the undisputed champs when it comes to chicken. Their strategy was simple – if KFC has the best chicken, then any chicken sandwich would instantly be better with KFC’s famous fried chicken.
Early reviews critiqued the Chicken Big Mac's small, uninspiring patties. And research proved KFC's chicken was both better looking and, more importantly, better tasting. This gave us the confidence to boldly challenge the world's leading fast food chain.
Their idea was to ‘fix’ the underwhelming Chicken Big Mac by replacing its meager chicken patties with their generous, mouth watering KFC fried chicken.
The Chicken Big Mac was unveiled on March 2nd and released on the 7th, leaving us with five days to act. The timeline was tight and required all hands on deck. After collaborating swiftly with their agency partners and KFC, they achieved alignment in a day and immediately put the plan into action.
Within minutes of McDonald’s Canada announcing the launch on Twitter, KFC responded with a simple Tweet: “There, we fixed it,” accompanied by an image of the upgraded Chicken Big Mac using KFC’s mouth-watering chicken. The same visual was posted across KFC social channels calling out McDonald’s and its underwhelming entry into the chicken wars, and invited sandwich lovers, influencers, and media outlets to weigh in on who’s chicken was actually worth celebrating.
But they didn’t stop there. Through a coordinated effort between KFC’s advertising, PR and media teams, their ‘fixed’ Chicken Big Mac was brought to actual McDonald's locations with truck-sized billboards placed in front of their golden arches.
Having made ‘The Big Fix’ available at participating locations, they then partnered with prominent food influencers like @mukbangmaxwell, who helped spread the word on social media, prompting Canadians to buy it and film their reviews on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.
While many have tried to imitate the Big Mac, KFC was the first to successfully improve on this iconic sandwich. Demonstrating true iconicity, their 'fixed' Chicken Big Mac showcased how KFC's chicken can take any sandwich to the next level.
In an industry that’s fast becoming defined by real-time, response-driving advertising, “Fixed It” serves as the gold standard. In less than 24 hours, KFC hijacked McDonald’s biggest launch of the year with a simple Tweet, turned experiential stunt, that captured the media’s attention, reaching millions of Canadians. Then, they walked the walk, and added the “Fixed It’ sandwich to KFC’s secret menu – driving people in-store to try it for themselves. By being the first to capitalize off of McDonald’s launch, they created a moment in culture that further solidified KFC as the undisputed chicken champ. And it was all done for less than $30,000.
KFC in Canada might strike a chord with the older generation, but misses the mark with Millennials and Gen Z. They were challenged by the client to take bold risks, get talked about in culture, and stand out from the sea of QSRs.
Despite McDonald's having more marketing dollars, locations, and social media followers, KFC successfully hijacked the conversation during their much anticipated launch of the Chicken Big Mac. And in doing so, reminded Canadians that when it comes to chicken, everything's better with KFC.
Their ambitious goal to hijack the conversation was met with an impressive 18x increase in earned media compared to paid. The debate not only fueled a 72% increase in social engagement, it generated an 86% rise in positive brand perception for KFC. Best of all, it had a remarkable impact on the business, boosting sales by 5.1% and generating an impressive 2859% return on spend. And it was all done for only $30,000 all in.
Despite McDonald's having more marketing dollars, locations, and social media followers, KFC successfully hijacked the conversation during their much anticipated launch of the Chicken Big Mac. And in doing so, reminded Canadians that when it comes to chicken, everything's better with KFC.
Credits
Agency: CourageFounder + CCO: Dhaval Bhatt
Founder + CCO: Joel Holtby
Partner + President: Niki Sahni
Partner + CSO: Tom Kenny
ACD, Writer: Hemal Dhanjee
ACD, AD: Steve Ierullo
Writer: Matt Miller
Art Director: Tommy Yong
Account Director: Amna Khalid
Executive Producer: Clair Galea
Producer: Katie Fowler
Production: Fuze Reps
CGI Artist: Pierre Bourjo
Case Study Photographer: Sandy Nicholson
Client: KFC
Chief Marketing Officer: Katherine Bond-Debicki
Marketing Director: Azim Akhtar
Media: Wavemaker
CEO: Nikki Stone
Managing Director: Dan Boem
Account Manager: Kelly Wong
Senior Media Planner: Blanca Gamez
Account Manager: Ani Hajderaj
PR: Narrative
EVP Managing Director: Cathy Mitchell
Managing Director, Chief Creative Officer: Meredith Klapowich
ECD: Jessie Sorell
Vice President: Lauren Baswick
Account Director: Sheri Clish
Account Director: Daliah Hijazi Marsons
Account Manager: Sreeja Sasidharan
Account Manager: Holly Wilks