2023 Winner
SilverBest Integrated Campaign - Budget Over $250,000
KFC
"Not Everyone's Happy"
Courage
"Not Everyone's Happy"
Courage
In the QSR space, every value promotion looks the same. Big price point. Big food shot. Big brand colours. So when KFC brought their biggest promo of the year to the table, 2 pieces of chicken for only $2.99, they couldn’t just show up looking the same. They had to make a splash.
Right now, in the current Canadian economy, you are hard pressed to find a lunch for under $15 bucks. Fast food prices are at an all time high. So what was KFC’s response? Offering 2 pieces of chicken for only $2.99. KFC prides themselves on quality and consistency, and for that good a chicken to be offered for that low a price, it’s unheard of.
The Colonel was famous for taking great pride in his chicken. Afterall it isn’t just any ordinary chicken. It’s the Colonel’s Original Recipe. A famous blend of spices cooked up by the chef himself over 70 years ago. He was always passionate about his recipe, and historically he was known to have public disagreements with KFC about how they did business. And now, KFC is practically giving away his chicken for only $2.99? They think you see where this is going.
The Colonel would be outraged at KFC for how little they are charging for his Finger Lickin’ Good chicken. So they created a campaign that would match his real behaviour if he was still kicking. Every piece of the journey showed why “not everyone’s happy” about Twosdays… “but you will be.”
Their campaign launched with a head-turning TV spot that featured the Colonel swearing, ranting, and serving KFC chicken. Shot by Zach Math, the commercial was completely inspired by The Colonel’s real home kitchen, mannerisms, and his coveted way of making KFC.
The campaign continued with an open letter from The Colonel in the largest Canadian newspaper, The Globe & Mail. The full-page ad mimicked The Colonel’s real open letters to KFC from back in the day.
And then, that’s when the vandalism started. A massive impact board in the heart of Toronto featuring a Twosdays promo deal was vandalized by the Colonel himself. A life-like mannequin with a giant paint roller could be seen painting out the price point, trying to correct KFC’s mistake.
After that, they brought the Colonel to KFC Headquarters to confront his once beloved company. His antics at the office became highly engaging social content on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. The videos of him shredding KFC Twosdays flyers, correcting posters, and destroying evidence of the deal blew up, gaining over 10 million views across platforms. With the Colonel’s help, they kept the conversation going. Every touchpoint a KFC customer went on, the Colonel was there to share his frustrations. Emails from the Colonel, app notifications, and social commentary brought him to life for their audience.
The campaign was a smashing success to say the least. It became KFC Canada’s most successful value promotion in history, with a media plan that achieved over 82 million impressions. The FB/IG Conversion campaign delivered a KPI of 150% and an impressive 10,789 transactions. The Search Transaction Campaign ran every Tuesday and achieved an impressive ROAS of 638.2%. Awareness spiked, with consideration going up 163%. Perception of KFC’s value grew 283.7%. Canadians' view on quality grew 263.2% as well. Word-of-mouth exposure went up 418% because of the campaign. And to top it off, 20% of people made aware of the promo took a trip to the store to try it for themselves.
All media buy costs were approximately $1.4M, all earned media costs, including PR budget were approximately $16K and all production and execution costs pertaining to the entry were
approximately $450K.
Right now, in the current Canadian economy, you are hard pressed to find a lunch for under $15 bucks. Fast food prices are at an all time high. So what was KFC’s response? Offering 2 pieces of chicken for only $2.99. KFC prides themselves on quality and consistency, and for that good a chicken to be offered for that low a price, it’s unheard of.
The Colonel was famous for taking great pride in his chicken. Afterall it isn’t just any ordinary chicken. It’s the Colonel’s Original Recipe. A famous blend of spices cooked up by the chef himself over 70 years ago. He was always passionate about his recipe, and historically he was known to have public disagreements with KFC about how they did business. And now, KFC is practically giving away his chicken for only $2.99? They think you see where this is going.
The Colonel would be outraged at KFC for how little they are charging for his Finger Lickin’ Good chicken. So they created a campaign that would match his real behaviour if he was still kicking. Every piece of the journey showed why “not everyone’s happy” about Twosdays… “but you will be.”
Their campaign launched with a head-turning TV spot that featured the Colonel swearing, ranting, and serving KFC chicken. Shot by Zach Math, the commercial was completely inspired by The Colonel’s real home kitchen, mannerisms, and his coveted way of making KFC.
The campaign continued with an open letter from The Colonel in the largest Canadian newspaper, The Globe & Mail. The full-page ad mimicked The Colonel’s real open letters to KFC from back in the day.
And then, that’s when the vandalism started. A massive impact board in the heart of Toronto featuring a Twosdays promo deal was vandalized by the Colonel himself. A life-like mannequin with a giant paint roller could be seen painting out the price point, trying to correct KFC’s mistake.
After that, they brought the Colonel to KFC Headquarters to confront his once beloved company. His antics at the office became highly engaging social content on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. The videos of him shredding KFC Twosdays flyers, correcting posters, and destroying evidence of the deal blew up, gaining over 10 million views across platforms. With the Colonel’s help, they kept the conversation going. Every touchpoint a KFC customer went on, the Colonel was there to share his frustrations. Emails from the Colonel, app notifications, and social commentary brought him to life for their audience.
The campaign was a smashing success to say the least. It became KFC Canada’s most successful value promotion in history, with a media plan that achieved over 82 million impressions. The FB/IG Conversion campaign delivered a KPI of 150% and an impressive 10,789 transactions. The Search Transaction Campaign ran every Tuesday and achieved an impressive ROAS of 638.2%. Awareness spiked, with consideration going up 163%. Perception of KFC’s value grew 283.7%. Canadians' view on quality grew 263.2% as well. Word-of-mouth exposure went up 418% because of the campaign. And to top it off, 20% of people made aware of the promo took a trip to the store to try it for themselves.
All media buy costs were approximately $1.4M, all earned media costs, including PR budget were approximately $16K and all production and execution costs pertaining to the entry were
approximately $450K.
Credits
Agency: CouragePartner + President: Niki Sahni
Founder + CCO: Dhaval Bhatt
Founder + CCO: Joel Holtby
Partner + CSO: Tom Kenny
Writer: Matt Miller
Art Director: Tommy Yong
Account Director: Amna Khalid
Creative Director: Elma Karabegovic
Senior Strategist: Lyndsey Westfall
Executive Producer: Clair Galea
Producer: Sarah Moen
Producer: Katie Fowler
French Producer: Valerie Lapointe
French Writer: Jack Latulippe
Production: Suneeva
Director: Zach Math
Executive Producer: Geoff Cornish
Line Producer: Jeff Pangman
Cinematographer: Christophe Collette
Production Designer: Francois Jordan
Casting Director for English Cast: Steven Mann
Casting Director for French Cast: Denise Charest
SFX Makeup: Louise Mackintosh
Wardrobe Design: Georgia Groom
Social Campaign Director: Devon Ferguson
Social Campaign Producer: Iseult McNamara
Offline: Rooster
Executive Producer: Melissa Kahn
Editor: Marc Langley
Assistant Editor: Sonny Atkins
French Editor: Mariam Fahmy
Social Editor: Jordan Giles
Transfer + Online: Alter Ego
Executive Producer: Hilda Pereira
Producer: Andrew Tavares
Senior Colourist: Eric Whipp (Main Campaign)
Colourist: James Graham (Social Campaign)
Senior VFX Artist: Joel Osis
VFX Assistant: Saba Zahir
Colour Assistant: Samantha Omand
Audio: Vapor Music
Executive Producer: Lindsey Bates
Creative Director: Ted Rosnick
Original Music: Ethan Mentzer
Sound Design: Levi Considine
Sound Design (Social Assets): Kevin Chamberlain
Engineer: Ryan Chalmers
Photography: Undivided
Executive Producer: Scott Houghton
Photographer/Retouching: Nikki Ormerod
Client: KFC
Chief Marketing Officer: Katherine Bond-Debicki
Marketing Director: Azim Akhtar
Marketing Manager: Laura Mallozzi
Media: Wavemaker
CEO: Nikki Stone
Managing Director: Dan Boem
Senior Media Planner: Blanca Gamez
PR: Narrative
Account Director: Sheri Clish
Associate Creative Director: Kath Flores