2024 Winner
BronzeBest Use of Influencers
KFC
"Finger Lickin'
Open Endorsement"
Courage
"Finger Lickin'
Open Endorsement"
Courage
In Canada, basketball fans are big consumers in the Quick-Service Restaurant (QSR) space with 75% of them being regular fast-food customers. Yet, herein also lies the problem: the basketball market is already saturated with QSR brands vying for the attention of basketball fans.
A key competitor in this space is McDonald’s, who has spent millions of sponsorship dollars with the NBA – individual player endorsements, seasonal campaigns with the Toronto Raptors, and reportedly giving away more than 700,000 free fries in one season valued at $1 million.
Not to mention, other KFC competitors, including Mary Brown’s and Subway have also made significant investments in basketball – securing multiple player endorsements with the Toronto Raptors, including former Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes.
As a challenger brand with zero sponsorship deals, KFC Canada aimed to embed themselves in basketball culture by shifting their focus from the players to the fans – making KFC the most loved QSR in basketball.
The challenge was to cut through the sponsorship clutter by finding a culturally relevant way to connect with basketball fans without an official partnership.
Knowing the basketball space is already saturated with QSR brands, KFC needed to find a way to connect with basketball fans – and that wasn’t going to be a traditional ad buy. While other QSRs had a fiscal relationship with the NBA, the agency identified a parallel to the game that only KFC has, the brand’s most iconic brand asset: Finger Lickin Good.
They came across a little known fact that NBA players have been licking their fingers on the court for a while. From the free-throw line or after a clutch three, finger licking has always been a part of basketball. Performed by basketball icons like Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Angel Reese, "the finger-lickin’ good celebration” has solidified its place as an iconic basketball ritual.
Now was the time to cash in on this cultural currency. And as the brand who put finger lickin’ on the map, KFC saw an opportunity to insert itself in basketball culture by being the first brand to own a basketball celebration – “the finger lickin’ good” celly.
The strategy? Hack their way into the NBA by being the first brand to own a basketball celebration, putting it at the center of a nation-wide fan engagement campaign. Instead of paying for a big player endorsement, KFC hacked its way into the NBA by putting out an endorsement deal open to everyone – players and fans alike. Just shoot a bucket, do the finger lickin’ good celebration, share it online and get paid in KFC.
To launch, the brand introduced the first ever sponsorship opportunity of its kind: KFC’s “Finger Lickin’ Open Endorsement”. An endorsement deal open to anyone – from streamers, rec leaguers, basketball fans, and more.
The campaign operated under a simple mechanic: film yourself shooting a bucket, do the finger lickin’ good celly, and tag @kfc_canada for a shot at being endorsed in KFC.
To generate buzz and truly lean into Basketball culture the brand wanted to work with influencers who will give KFC the credibility in the space. KFC partnered with one of the NBA’s most credible influencers @lethalshooter. The most popular shooting coach in the history of the NBA. They saw him as the influencer who knows all about buckets, his job is to help players get more buckets. So he was the perfect personality to make the idea bigger.
Working with @lethalshooter the brand infiltrated one of the Raptors biggest games of the season sneaking in Colonel Sanders and with him. The two sat courtside and did the Finger Lickin celebration when Raptors were making big buckets.
The agency also created various pieces of content with @lethalshooter showing him teaching the colonel how to shoot a bucket, and playing 1 on 1 against each other in bite sized content that thousands of basketball fans loved online.
Then they crashed March Madness by endorsing over 40 NCAA athletes, creating the biggest NIL deal of its kind. The domino effect even reached the NBA, prompting the Maverick’s own, Luka Doncic, to do the FLG celly in-game against the Rockets – putting KFC at the forefront of basketball culture.
The results of the campaign were outstanding. By finding an ownable way to tap into basketball fandom, KFC generated a whopping $17,485,000 in Earned Media Value (EMV). Moreover, the engagement amongst basketball fans was evident: over 1,000 people endorsed.
But the campaign didn’t just generate buzz, it changed brand perception in a big way. In just one month, KFC surpassed McDonald’s as the #2 brand associated with basketball, along with capturing the #1 share of voice during the All Star Weekend. And they did it without going the traditional and expensive path of sponsoring an official team, venue, or a big athlete.
By incentivizing KFC’s tagline (“it’s finger lickin’ good”) in a culturally relevant way, KFC solidified itself in basketball culture as the first brand to own a basketball celebration, offering basketball fans yet another reason to lick their fingers.
A key competitor in this space is McDonald’s, who has spent millions of sponsorship dollars with the NBA – individual player endorsements, seasonal campaigns with the Toronto Raptors, and reportedly giving away more than 700,000 free fries in one season valued at $1 million.
Not to mention, other KFC competitors, including Mary Brown’s and Subway have also made significant investments in basketball – securing multiple player endorsements with the Toronto Raptors, including former Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes.
As a challenger brand with zero sponsorship deals, KFC Canada aimed to embed themselves in basketball culture by shifting their focus from the players to the fans – making KFC the most loved QSR in basketball.
The challenge was to cut through the sponsorship clutter by finding a culturally relevant way to connect with basketball fans without an official partnership.
Knowing the basketball space is already saturated with QSR brands, KFC needed to find a way to connect with basketball fans – and that wasn’t going to be a traditional ad buy. While other QSRs had a fiscal relationship with the NBA, the agency identified a parallel to the game that only KFC has, the brand’s most iconic brand asset: Finger Lickin Good.
They came across a little known fact that NBA players have been licking their fingers on the court for a while. From the free-throw line or after a clutch three, finger licking has always been a part of basketball. Performed by basketball icons like Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Angel Reese, "the finger-lickin’ good celebration” has solidified its place as an iconic basketball ritual.
Now was the time to cash in on this cultural currency. And as the brand who put finger lickin’ on the map, KFC saw an opportunity to insert itself in basketball culture by being the first brand to own a basketball celebration – “the finger lickin’ good” celly.
The strategy? Hack their way into the NBA by being the first brand to own a basketball celebration, putting it at the center of a nation-wide fan engagement campaign. Instead of paying for a big player endorsement, KFC hacked its way into the NBA by putting out an endorsement deal open to everyone – players and fans alike. Just shoot a bucket, do the finger lickin’ good celebration, share it online and get paid in KFC.
To launch, the brand introduced the first ever sponsorship opportunity of its kind: KFC’s “Finger Lickin’ Open Endorsement”. An endorsement deal open to anyone – from streamers, rec leaguers, basketball fans, and more.
The campaign operated under a simple mechanic: film yourself shooting a bucket, do the finger lickin’ good celly, and tag @kfc_canada for a shot at being endorsed in KFC.
To generate buzz and truly lean into Basketball culture the brand wanted to work with influencers who will give KFC the credibility in the space. KFC partnered with one of the NBA’s most credible influencers @lethalshooter. The most popular shooting coach in the history of the NBA. They saw him as the influencer who knows all about buckets, his job is to help players get more buckets. So he was the perfect personality to make the idea bigger.
Working with @lethalshooter the brand infiltrated one of the Raptors biggest games of the season sneaking in Colonel Sanders and with him. The two sat courtside and did the Finger Lickin celebration when Raptors were making big buckets.
The agency also created various pieces of content with @lethalshooter showing him teaching the colonel how to shoot a bucket, and playing 1 on 1 against each other in bite sized content that thousands of basketball fans loved online.
Then they crashed March Madness by endorsing over 40 NCAA athletes, creating the biggest NIL deal of its kind. The domino effect even reached the NBA, prompting the Maverick’s own, Luka Doncic, to do the FLG celly in-game against the Rockets – putting KFC at the forefront of basketball culture.
The results of the campaign were outstanding. By finding an ownable way to tap into basketball fandom, KFC generated a whopping $17,485,000 in Earned Media Value (EMV). Moreover, the engagement amongst basketball fans was evident: over 1,000 people endorsed.
But the campaign didn’t just generate buzz, it changed brand perception in a big way. In just one month, KFC surpassed McDonald’s as the #2 brand associated with basketball, along with capturing the #1 share of voice during the All Star Weekend. And they did it without going the traditional and expensive path of sponsoring an official team, venue, or a big athlete.
By incentivizing KFC’s tagline (“it’s finger lickin’ good”) in a culturally relevant way, KFC solidified itself in basketball culture as the first brand to own a basketball celebration, offering basketball fans yet another reason to lick their fingers.
Credits
CourageDhaval Bhatt - Founder + CCO
Joel Holtby - Founder + CCO
Tom Kenny - Partner + CSO
Niki Sahni - Partner + President
Raul Garcia - Executive Creative Director
Hemal Dhanjee - Creative Director
Steve Ierullo - Creative Director
Alex Karrayanides - Group Account Director
Kyron Sobers - Account Director
Atria Ghosh - Account Supervisor
Rami Dudin - Group Strategy Director
Clair Galea - Executive Producer
Katie Fowler - Producer
Sunaina Arora - Producer + Post Producer
Marcus Barrie - Editor
Media: Wavemaker
CEO: Nikki Stone
Managing Director: Dan Boem
Associate Director: Daniel Balment
Client Business Manager: Blanca Gamez
Merchant
Jason Jeffrey - Director
Adam Marsden - DP
Ian Webb - Executive Producer
Hayley Taylor - Executive Producer
Maryna Petrenko - Producer
Jessica O’Reilly - Production Designer
Ron Parrell - 1st AD
Kyle Lauzon - Production Manager
Adelle Gaudet - Stylist
Cristina Rubiales - Hair & MUA Artist
Foodstylist - Sean O’Connor
Transfer + Online - Alter Ego
Colourist: Lily Henry
Colour Assistant: Daniel Saavedra
VFX Lead - Eric Perrella
VFX Artists - Sebastian Boros, Victoria Gaston
VFX Assistant - Nupur Desai
Senior Motion Designer - Edward Deng
Producer - Mariya Guzova
Executive Producer - Hilda Pereira
Audio - Vapor Music
Creative Director - Ted Rosnick
Sound Engineer - Ryan Chalmers
Producer - Matilde Mata
Executive Producer - Lindsey Serlin
KFC
Katherine Bond Debecki - Chief Marketing Officer
Azim Akhtar - Director, Marketing
Jordan Sequeira - Brand Manager