The Colonel’s Club is KFC’s mobile based loyalty program in the UK, providing fun, interesting and engaging ways for KFC to talk to its core audience of chicken fans.

We were tasked to drive new app downloads, as well as continue to surprise and delight our members with exciting and innovative communications that cut through the noise of busy email inboxes or the daily deluge of notifications.

One of the ways we approach the brief is by identifying what gets our audience excited in wider culture.

The Royal Wedding promised to be the biggest media moment of 2018.

In the UK, it’s traditional for commemorative chinaware and memorabilia to flood the market to mark the occasion...

...So, we decided to create a very special limited-edition twist on the famous KFC bucket, with a run of 25 English bone china KFC Buckets for our fans to celebrate Harry and Meghan’s marriage.

Hand made by expert craftsmen in the ceramics capital of the world Stoke-On-Trent, and finished with a 22 Carat burnished gold rim.

Each bucket featured a unique crest design inspired by commemorative china designs, with each bucket was also stamped with KFC’s own unique ‘Kentucky Fine China’ hallmark of authenticity.

We gave our Colonel’s Club members the chance to win a Royal Bucket via an email competition, all they had to do was answer a simple question to get their hands on their own ‘Royal Bucket’.

The Colonel's Club is KFC's innovative national loyalty scheme, serving over 800 restaurants in the UK with a promise to give its members more than just points, but real value.

In the lead up to the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, we saw an opportunity to maximize this value, offering KFC loyalists something to celebrate the big day with.

Introducing the ‘Kentucky Fine China’ Royal Bucket - the perfect marriage of the finest English china and the fine flavour of the American South. Crafted with love from English fine bone china in Stoke-on-Trent, the home of English pottery - making the iconic bucket even more iconic.

With a limited release of just 25 buckets we set up a competition exclusive to Colonel’s Club members which ran in the week leading up to the wedding.

Each ‘Royal Bucket’ was hand made by expert craftsmen in the ceramics capital of the world Stoke-On-Trent, and finished with a 22 Carat burnished gold rim. Every bucket featured a unique crest design inspired by commemorative china designs, with each bucket was also stamped with KFC’s own unique ‘Kentucky Fine China’ hallmark of authenticity.

Available exclusively to our Colonel’s Club members, we gave our loyal fans the chance to win a Royal Bucket by responding to an email competition, all they had to do was answer a simple question to get their hands on their own Kentucky Fine China ‘Royal Bucket’.

We received 102,911 entries to win a bucket, in just 5 days.

Over 77,000 entries on the first day, an entry every second.

Signing up 24,000 new Colonel’s Club members over the course of the campaign.

As well as a generating a wealth of PR coverage in the likes of The Sun, The Daily Mirror and Mashable as well as many others.

‘What the cluck? KFC launches Bone China Buckets to commemorate the Royal Wedding’ – The Sun

‘Who knew a bucket of chicken could be so fancy?’ – Mashable

‘We bet they’ll go for an absolute fortune on EBay’ – The Mirror

We also saw loads of mentions from our members new and old on social media, all clamouring to get their hands on the bucket.